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Lapis Philosophorum » alchemy

Reading #8: A reminder

Posted in Alchemical Tarot, Journal on January 10th, 2010 by Kristine Gazel

The first week of Januar. Went. Not well, but it went. My sinusitis came back. Copenhagen is freesing. I feel like hibernating until February. I’ve written about spiritual practise today, but frankly, I feel blocked and doubtful right now.

So what is it about? Let me do a little reading – The little Cross again; The Situation crossed by the Challenge:

The situation gives me The Empress: Here we have the Alchemical Vessel personified by the Mother Goddess herself.

Again from The Alchemical Tarot Study Group:

Alchemically, the Empress represents the alchemical vessel, which nurtures the creation of the philosopher’s stone. She continues the process of dissolution of the prima materia, begun by the High Priestess.

Tarot wisdom: The Empress signifies the potential to bring forth great abundance, the bounties of life, a spiritual flowering. She is grounded in the earth, and therefore in the material world, which helps us keep our center as we probe the spiritual planes. However, we cannot take this abundance for granted. The alchemical womb must be watched and tended, lest it abort, and we be forced to start anew.

Again, I think this has do with grounding and nurturing. I guess I simply tend to forget this, while (still) feeling self pity about January.

I guess I will meditate on this card for the next week, and try to nurture the aspects of everyday life that has to do with the Goddess. And nurture my children, husband, and myself as mother and wife, and woman of course.

I’m afraid I has been withdrawing into myself  and that is not a way to tend to this alchemical vessel, I think.

Crossed by Two of Swords as the challenge:

I’m being involved in thought processes, that are too airy, too dualistic, too intellectual.  If I let it be, I might find a compromise of wisdom (the owl) in a entirely different place, than where I look for it now. Maybe it is a conflict between emotion on one side (the sword with the red handle) and rationality on the other (the sword with the blue handle). Or maybe it is this dichotomy itself that is the problem.

So here I read the Challenge card as an obstacle, something that prevents me from going to the source of the Goddess, so to speak. I’m simply troubled with thoughts and rationalizations. Maybe the owl is telling me to hover over this and that is in doing that I find wisdom.

By the Empress, and pointing back to my last reading, by Children.  In this particular reading I see the Empress’ child, Eros, symbolising both children, childish things and Love.

And the Two swords also points back to the Three swords from last week; That thoughts and mental processes can sometimes be a problem in it self.  I can actually forget what is most important in the midst of them.

But then I’m gently reminded.

Images from The Alchemical Tarot, copyright Robert M. Place, are used with kind permission. Visit the Alchemical Tarot website.

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Blood

Posted in Tarot on October 31st, 2009 by Kristine Gazel

Being attracted to the Alchemical and the Vampire Tarots – as should be appearent by reading this blog – I started  wonder what it is about  blood and its symbolism, that so intrigues us?

I guess that blood has so many symbolic layers that you could write volume upon volume about it. And this has been done.

So now I want to turn my – and yours – focus on Blood and Redness as symbolizing Eros.

In the fairy tales three drops of blood can symbolize the defloration of the virgin, in a more unfamiliar freudian sense. This I choose to interpret as the point where the young girl become mature and able as a women to give herself to a man on the wedding night. The wedding symbolizes that there has been a true union, a conjuntion, between the man and the woman, the groom and the wife.

So, the mother in the fairy tale of Snow White cuts her finger on the needle, and tree drops of blood fall on the snow in the black wooden window frame and she says: “I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony”.

And then she concieves and gives birth to a little daughter, which the royal couple names Snow White, soon after which the good mother dies. We all know what then happens. Btw, I have always been more attracted to the cruelty and vile in the original fairy tales, as supposed to the cute Disney versions, which I do like, but it is not just the same (more about this in a later post, perhaps).

What I find interesting here is that the blood and the Redness is linked to the Blackness and the Whiteness. These are – off course – the three alchemical stages; the nigredo, the albedo and the rubedo. The rubedo is pointing to the culmination of the Opus, i.e. the Great Work, the red Stone, the conjunction, the fusion of opposites, and – yes – the wedding between the King and the Queen.

The World in the Alchemical Tarot, symbolizing the Great Work, The Red Stone

The World in the Alchemical Tarot (Courtesy of Robert M. Place),
symbolizing the Great Work,
The Red Stone

So – Blood and Redness, the beauty and brilliance of the colour red, then is about the pulse, the spark of life, love and passion, ripeness and maturity, the ability to be whole and united with the opposite, yet be differentiated.

We also have the virgin, the mother and the crone, as aspects of the goddess trinity, where the mother stands for the mature woman, representing the fase in a woman’s life, that is about love, passion and eros, and where she, being able to give birth and create new life, is bleeding on a monthly basis.

My husband had a more earth-bound approach: “Blood is what runs our machine – it is liquid, yet coagulates easily, it is thick and warm, it is sort of alive, a living organism in itself”.

And as the blood runs thin, we are embarking on its scarier implications, we are reminded of death; It is at this point that the Redness turns back into Blackness. And the circle comes full.

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Fate

Posted in Tarot on October 18th, 2009 by Kristine Gazel

First of all, Tarot Table Talk is back and I warmly recommend that you visit the site.

Today, I choose Fate, from Robert Place’s beautiful and intriguing Vampire Tarot, and therefore I would like to write about this card.

The Fate from the Vampire Tarot by Robert M. Place

The Fate from the Vampire Tarot by Robert M. Place

I think the idea is that even the vampire is subject to Fate, as we all are. In the norse mythology, the Norns spin and cut the threads of fate, and thereby determine our lifespan, as do the greek goddesses of Fate, the Moirae. When the scissors cut the life is irrevocably over, hence the blodstains on the blades.

I also like the way Place has used the alchemical colours for the Fates; black, red and white. As if to say, that these three (alchemical) phases are also integral parts of a life span; the blackness of death, the  unconsciousness and sorrow, the rednes of life, love and passion and the whiteness of enlightment, innocence and purity. Maybe to say that the Fates also determine how these things are mixed and blended into our individual lifes.  Also, the colours can symbolize the three aspects of the great Goddess; The Crone, the Mother and the Virgin, which the Fates represent.

Again thanks to Robert Place for his art and for Susan Gold for bringing this to my attention.

The card is from the Vampire Tarot, Copyright Robert M. Place.

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Frightening amounts of litterature

Posted in Uncategorized on April 25th, 2009 by Kristine Gazel

I have noticed how much litterature there exits out there on the subject of Alchemy. Not just from an Jungian perspective, but also from a general or historical point of view. It would take a life time or more likely forever to read about it, and you may need a guide on your Path. I therefore link to the The Alchemical Web Site, by Alchemy and Tarot authority Adam McLean. Here you can find bibliographies, articles, links and much more on the subject. Enjoy.

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References to Jungian Litterature on Alchemy

Posted in Uncategorized on April 19th, 2009 by Kristine Gazel

On the Zen Habits Forums I’ve promised to make a list of references to Litterature on Alchemy written from an jungian analytical psychological point of wiev, since I’ve decided to read ten books on this subject over the next four months.

So this list will evolve while I’m reading the books. And I will also try to make annotations to the references along the way.

The list can be seen on the page Jungian Analytical Pscyhological Litterature on Alchemy.

First, I’m reading a book about the concept of Sol Niger in Art, Alchemy and Therapy.  Therefore this image:

sol-niger

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The Alchemical Tarot Renewed

Posted in Alchemical Tarot, Journal, Tarot on January 4th, 2009 by Kristine Gazel

I have committed to do a process called Primary Deck Reflections (PDR) for the year of 2009 at the Aeclectic Tarot Forum.

I’ll be using the Alchemical Tarot Renewed by Robert M. Place.  It will be my 2009 study and reflection deck, and I’ll use it for reading for my self only. That mean I’ll still be using  the Universal Waite – but when reading for others, which I hope to do more this year.

virtues

The Virtues: Temperance, Strength, Justice and Prudence as the World

I simply feel an urge to dive into the mysteries of the Alchemical Tarot in partucular and Alchemy in general. Therefore I chose this deck, which I find quite fascinating – yet difficult to approach. Apart from that – as stated below in the Sacred Days of Yule Spread – I’ll embark on a spiritual journey seaching for my Soul or my Self  (Six of Swords) of a secret character – and I guess the Alchemical Tarot will fit the nature of this journey perfectly and function as a road map.

I’ll try to read once a week with the Alchemical Tarot, and then write a journal entry in this blog  – if the circumstances of my life permit. That will be during the weekends. Mostly just three card spreads. I’ll post both here and at the Aeclectic tarot Forum. Approximately but not necessarily the same stuff.

I’m waiting for the new book to accompany the deck to be released. Until that I’ll use the study group at Aeclectic for reference, since I’m not into this deck, all though I know a little tiny bit about alchemy. I’ll also try to compile a referencelist of Alchemical Litterature, to post in the Ressourceguide category. This litterature, I’ll try to read during this year.

Images from The Alchemical Tarot, copyright Robert M. Place, are used with kind permission. Visit the Alchemical Tarot website.

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