ALCHEMY AND THE SECRETS OF VITALITY AND HEALTH
By David Quigley
Many people have asked me why I call the work I do "Alchemy". The answer is simple: because Alchemy is the core of my work and is the secret of my own vitality. For over a thousand years Alchemists have taught secrets of longevity and health. In this article I will explain what that means. Most people think that the Alchemists were erroneous medieval experimenters trying to turn lead into gold. In fact, their main focus was the "Elixir of Immortality" - ie, the secrets of longevity. Even though such great luminaries from the Enlightenment as Roger Bacon and Isaac Newton were card carrying Alchemists, the modern world still dismisses their work as pseudo science.
The great psychotherapist Carl Jung, on the other hand, did not dismiss this work as mere superstition. He studied many of the ancient Alchemical texts, and discovered that the alchemists were engaged in a journey into some deep internal realms of imagination. The processes they described involved contacting powerful inner guides, which Jung described as archetypes. They interacted with these beings in mysterious ways that were described in the illustrations within their manuscripts. Ways that today we might call depth psychology, although the scholars of that time had no psychological language with which to describe these processes. Basically, according to Jung, Alchemy was a type of hypnosis therapy (he called it active imagination) in which the seeker in an alert state of trance comparable to deep prayer or meditation, contacted inner guides and utilized their power to transform their lives. Since my teachings are clearly within the scope of this venerable tradition, I choose to call my work Alchemy.
But the parallels between my work, Carl Jung's psychology, and the writings of the ancient alchemists are far greater than this. This article will show how the ancient alchemist's primary symbols and goals precisely parallel the work of Alchemical Hypnosis.
The most important symbol to the ancient alchemists was the Elixir of Immortality, which was the primary objective of the alchemist's experiments. The large quantities of gold that history tells us were produced by these alchemists were, according to their writings, a byproduct of this Elixir. This elixir was made from something called the philosopher's stone, and represented the ultimate achievement for the Alchemist. This healing brew supposedly conferred upon the alchemist either extreme longevity or eternal life.
I have no idea, frankly, if a physical substance like this elixir was ever created by the alchemical process. But I do believe in the writings of one Alchemist, who wrote "Transform yourselves into the elixir of Immortality."
I became convinced of the reality of this symbol by a peculiar event that happened a few years ago when meeting a former student who I hadn’t seen in twenty years. In 1986 I trained a lovely 43 year old woman named Surja Jessup in the work of Alchemy. For years we saw nothing of each other, but I did show a videotape of Surja as a student in practice sessions in class on many occasions. Twenty years later she showed up for an advanced class, the one in which her video was to be shown. When she walked in the door I was shocked. She had scarcely aged in twenty years. At 63, she still looked 43! My first question for her was, "Who is your plastic surgeon?" Her answer was even more shocking. "No, David. No surgery, no makeup." Then after a moment of puzzled silence, "It must be this alchemical process." Well, I knew that my body has become much younger in the last twenty years, going as I did from a host of degenerative diseases to a vital and passionate athletic body. But seeing Surja finally brought it home to me. There must be something about this process that keeps us young and healthy! So, how do we alchemists create this elixir in our inner worlds?
One of the most critical symbols in the alchemical writings was the image of a child who lives inside the belly of the alchemist. Called the homunculus, Latin for fetus, it was portrayed as a hidden infant within the alchemist which needed to be born to and nurtured by an inner father and mother, who were often referred to as Sol (sun) and Luna (moon). At least five centuries before John Bradshaw, the ancient alchemists were doing inner child work. But in their work, inner parents helped the adult self to rescue this inner child from childhood pain and trauma and provide a new, happy childhood for that child. This is exactly the way I do "Alchemy" with clients.
Another of the universal symbols of the Alchemists was the Prima materia. This was the primordial substance from which the ancient alchemists created the Elixir of Immortality. While many modern scholars translate this concept as "lead", (remember the legend of lead into gold?) the Alchemists themselves never described it as a metal. They referred to it as a black malodorous substance that is reviled by all. What is that? My guess was the same as Jung's ... human excrement. We understand this to be a reference to the dark, ugly emotions that live inside our bodies and cause harm to ourselves and, to the extent that we act out of these feelings, harm to others as well. Reviled by all indeed ... fear, anger, shame, grief, lust. Before such feelings were made popular by new age therapists, these feelings were reviled by men, who, like Sigmund Freud, regarded them as ugly throwbacks to our primeval animal past.
But the Alchemists did not revile and reject these things. They saw these basic human instincts as the very source and substance of their transformative process. They told us clearly that only from the darkest matter could their gold be created. And that substance is exactly what I use to transform myself and my clients. For in my experience the body and soul cannot be healed until one addresses the emotional pain locked up in our bodies. And that pain can only be transformed with unconditional love for that child who was so hurt. That love includes listening to all the repressed pain of childhood, releasing the screams and cries and moans that have been buried for so many years, and then replacing them with memories of tender love and care. In order to make gold, I've learned we must start with ... poop.
The ancient alchemists, used a number of powerful inner journeys to distill the secrets of health and longevity which they called the Elixir of Immortality. Now more of their secrets are revealed below.
Another of the Alchemist's common symbols was the Sorer (Latin for sister). This figure was portrayed as a lover with whom the alchemist, yes, had sex. But lest she be mistaken for a common woman, the texts always described the alchemist merging physically and permanently with this woman. Together they became a hermaphrodite whom the alchemists portrayed as being both male and female. He/she was often referred to in these writings as the "Queen of the World," and was portrayed as the final outcome of the Alchemist's transformation, thus as synonymous with the Philosopher's Stone. I have often experienced the ecstasy and the beauty of this hermaphroditic state. In this state I feel like I'm falling in love with the most beautiful woman in the world, and she loves me too. It's the deepest ecstasy I have known and makes me feel as giddy and passionate as a happy teenager.
When I asked my youthful friend Surja what aspect of Alchemy she thought had the most influence on her amazing youthfulness her answer was unhesitating: "my inner mate. He's the one who keeps me young." I agree with her. This secret teaching of the inner mate is also of central importance to Carl Jung's teaching, in which he refers to this essential figure as the anima. His text Psychology and Alchemy makes it clear that he believes this inner lover is an essential element of our soul's evolution.
Another central symbol for the Alchemist was the dove, called Spiritus Sanctus. This guide, the Holy Spirit of the Christian trinity, is the voice of God that lives within each of us and is available every day to help us with our life path. This guide, referred to frequently by Christian mystics for two millennia, is often referred to in Jung's therapy as the Higher Self (or simply Self with a capital S) This personal contact with our own loving Higher Self is an essential part of Alchemy as I practice it for myself and with my clients. It differs significantly from the religious concept of God in that we make no claims of absolute authority or knowledge for this being, or that this being is the sole Creator of the entire Universe. These claims have led more often in my experience to arrogance, dogmatism, and bloodshed than to spiritual enlightenment. The Higher Power of the twelve step movements is the closest parallel to this figure in our modern culture, though as a concept it was quite familiar to Jesus and the early church by the same name, spiritus sanctus, used by the alchemists. While early mystics sometimes described this being as a ball of radiance or winged angel, the alchemists portrayed it as a glowing white dove, and Jung often described it as appearing as a radiant wise old man or woman. Whatever form it takes, This Higher Self is called upon to direct every session I do by myself or with a client.
The Alchemist as chemist was descended from the ancient metallurgist, whose ability to use intense fire to distill glowing molten metal from dull rocks was regarded as magical by the people. The Alchemist was likewise skilled in the use of intense and focused heat upon the inner alembic, the round vessel in which his experimental elements boiled. These fires of transformation represent for me in my practice the intense scrutiny that as a therapist I bring to my client's process. Such phrases as these: "Go deeper into that pain now ... ", "Let's go back to where you learned that you were no good ... " present illustrations of how I turn up the fire under my clients, forcing them to look at what they are afraid to see, forcing them to feel things no one wants to have to feel.
A first time client may have heard that hypnosis is a relaxed, sleep-like state. They are sometimes shocked at how difficult, even exhausting, are the journeys I lead them on in this supposedly peaceful state. I explain that in order to make deep and lasting change in a very short time, I must turn up the flames of Alchemy and pump the bellows hard. The results? Nearly every client I see reports phenomenal healing in only a few sessions, vastly exceeding their expectations. Frankly, most come to appreciate the hot fires of alchemy that I generate ... even if they don't always look forward to this week's session. I recently helped a 75 year old client heal her body of terminal emphysema. After several sessions of almost brutal self examination and emotional processing which left her exhausted, she returned her oxygen tank, and was able to run upstairs with her grandchildren. Her doctor declared her. disease free. But ... she worked for it!
Our process depends on these hot fires to be rapid and successful. And these fires are carefully contained within the sealed vessel, the alembic that is my therapy office. Protected within the enclosure of my professional confidentiality, compassion, and competence, and only in the safety of this vessel, can the client feel safe enough to explore and heal the deepest and most painful prima materia within their souls.
I will conclude by quoting a warning I give to all my clients:
One should consider exploring the path of Alchemy only if one is willing to work hard and devote oneself in body, mind, and spirit to a process of transformation that will require every ounce of your strength, your courage, and your faith. There is no room for wimps, tourists, or dilatants on the path of Alchemy. The rewards are nothing less than the pure gold of self realization in a body that is healthy, fit, and strong.
Many people have asked me why I call the work I do "Alchemy". The answer is simple: because Alchemy is the core of my work and is the secret of my own vitality. For over a thousand years Alchemists have taught secrets of longevity and health. In this article I will explain what that means. Most people think that the Alchemists were erroneous medieval experimenters trying to turn lead into gold. In fact, their main focus was the "Elixir of Immortality" - ie, the secrets of longevity. Even though such great luminaries from the Enlightenment as Roger Bacon and Isaac Newton were card carrying Alchemists, the modern world still dismisses their work as pseudo science.
The great psychotherapist Carl Jung, on the other hand, did not dismiss this work as mere superstition. He studied many of the ancient Alchemical texts, and discovered that the alchemists were engaged in a journey into some deep internal realms of imagination. The processes they described involved contacting powerful inner guides, which Jung described as archetypes. They interacted with these beings in mysterious ways that were described in the illustrations within their manuscripts. Ways that today we might call depth psychology, although the scholars of that time had no psychological language with which to describe these processes. Basically, according to Jung, Alchemy was a type of hypnosis therapy (he called it active imagination) in which the seeker in an alert state of trance comparable to deep prayer or meditation, contacted inner guides and utilized their power to transform their lives. Since my teachings are clearly within the scope of this venerable tradition, I choose to call my work Alchemy.
But the parallels between my work, Carl Jung's psychology, and the writings of the ancient alchemists are far greater than this. This article will show how the ancient alchemist's primary symbols and goals precisely parallel the work of Alchemical Hypnosis.
The most important symbol to the ancient alchemists was the Elixir of Immortality, which was the primary objective of the alchemist's experiments. The large quantities of gold that history tells us were produced by these alchemists were, according to their writings, a byproduct of this Elixir. This elixir was made from something called the philosopher's stone, and represented the ultimate achievement for the Alchemist. This healing brew supposedly conferred upon the alchemist either extreme longevity or eternal life.
I have no idea, frankly, if a physical substance like this elixir was ever created by the alchemical process. But I do believe in the writings of one Alchemist, who wrote "Transform yourselves into the elixir of Immortality."
I became convinced of the reality of this symbol by a peculiar event that happened a few years ago when meeting a former student who I hadn’t seen in twenty years. In 1986 I trained a lovely 43 year old woman named Surja Jessup in the work of Alchemy. For years we saw nothing of each other, but I did show a videotape of Surja as a student in practice sessions in class on many occasions. Twenty years later she showed up for an advanced class, the one in which her video was to be shown. When she walked in the door I was shocked. She had scarcely aged in twenty years. At 63, she still looked 43! My first question for her was, "Who is your plastic surgeon?" Her answer was even more shocking. "No, David. No surgery, no makeup." Then after a moment of puzzled silence, "It must be this alchemical process." Well, I knew that my body has become much younger in the last twenty years, going as I did from a host of degenerative diseases to a vital and passionate athletic body. But seeing Surja finally brought it home to me. There must be something about this process that keeps us young and healthy! So, how do we alchemists create this elixir in our inner worlds?
One of the most critical symbols in the alchemical writings was the image of a child who lives inside the belly of the alchemist. Called the homunculus, Latin for fetus, it was portrayed as a hidden infant within the alchemist which needed to be born to and nurtured by an inner father and mother, who were often referred to as Sol (sun) and Luna (moon). At least five centuries before John Bradshaw, the ancient alchemists were doing inner child work. But in their work, inner parents helped the adult self to rescue this inner child from childhood pain and trauma and provide a new, happy childhood for that child. This is exactly the way I do "Alchemy" with clients.
Another of the universal symbols of the Alchemists was the Prima materia. This was the primordial substance from which the ancient alchemists created the Elixir of Immortality. While many modern scholars translate this concept as "lead", (remember the legend of lead into gold?) the Alchemists themselves never described it as a metal. They referred to it as a black malodorous substance that is reviled by all. What is that? My guess was the same as Jung's ... human excrement. We understand this to be a reference to the dark, ugly emotions that live inside our bodies and cause harm to ourselves and, to the extent that we act out of these feelings, harm to others as well. Reviled by all indeed ... fear, anger, shame, grief, lust. Before such feelings were made popular by new age therapists, these feelings were reviled by men, who, like Sigmund Freud, regarded them as ugly throwbacks to our primeval animal past.
But the Alchemists did not revile and reject these things. They saw these basic human instincts as the very source and substance of their transformative process. They told us clearly that only from the darkest matter could their gold be created. And that substance is exactly what I use to transform myself and my clients. For in my experience the body and soul cannot be healed until one addresses the emotional pain locked up in our bodies. And that pain can only be transformed with unconditional love for that child who was so hurt. That love includes listening to all the repressed pain of childhood, releasing the screams and cries and moans that have been buried for so many years, and then replacing them with memories of tender love and care. In order to make gold, I've learned we must start with ... poop.
The ancient alchemists, used a number of powerful inner journeys to distill the secrets of health and longevity which they called the Elixir of Immortality. Now more of their secrets are revealed below.
Another of the Alchemist's common symbols was the Sorer (Latin for sister). This figure was portrayed as a lover with whom the alchemist, yes, had sex. But lest she be mistaken for a common woman, the texts always described the alchemist merging physically and permanently with this woman. Together they became a hermaphrodite whom the alchemists portrayed as being both male and female. He/she was often referred to in these writings as the "Queen of the World," and was portrayed as the final outcome of the Alchemist's transformation, thus as synonymous with the Philosopher's Stone. I have often experienced the ecstasy and the beauty of this hermaphroditic state. In this state I feel like I'm falling in love with the most beautiful woman in the world, and she loves me too. It's the deepest ecstasy I have known and makes me feel as giddy and passionate as a happy teenager.
When I asked my youthful friend Surja what aspect of Alchemy she thought had the most influence on her amazing youthfulness her answer was unhesitating: "my inner mate. He's the one who keeps me young." I agree with her. This secret teaching of the inner mate is also of central importance to Carl Jung's teaching, in which he refers to this essential figure as the anima. His text Psychology and Alchemy makes it clear that he believes this inner lover is an essential element of our soul's evolution.
Another central symbol for the Alchemist was the dove, called Spiritus Sanctus. This guide, the Holy Spirit of the Christian trinity, is the voice of God that lives within each of us and is available every day to help us with our life path. This guide, referred to frequently by Christian mystics for two millennia, is often referred to in Jung's therapy as the Higher Self (or simply Self with a capital S) This personal contact with our own loving Higher Self is an essential part of Alchemy as I practice it for myself and with my clients. It differs significantly from the religious concept of God in that we make no claims of absolute authority or knowledge for this being, or that this being is the sole Creator of the entire Universe. These claims have led more often in my experience to arrogance, dogmatism, and bloodshed than to spiritual enlightenment. The Higher Power of the twelve step movements is the closest parallel to this figure in our modern culture, though as a concept it was quite familiar to Jesus and the early church by the same name, spiritus sanctus, used by the alchemists. While early mystics sometimes described this being as a ball of radiance or winged angel, the alchemists portrayed it as a glowing white dove, and Jung often described it as appearing as a radiant wise old man or woman. Whatever form it takes, This Higher Self is called upon to direct every session I do by myself or with a client.
The Alchemist as chemist was descended from the ancient metallurgist, whose ability to use intense fire to distill glowing molten metal from dull rocks was regarded as magical by the people. The Alchemist was likewise skilled in the use of intense and focused heat upon the inner alembic, the round vessel in which his experimental elements boiled. These fires of transformation represent for me in my practice the intense scrutiny that as a therapist I bring to my client's process. Such phrases as these: "Go deeper into that pain now ... ", "Let's go back to where you learned that you were no good ... " present illustrations of how I turn up the fire under my clients, forcing them to look at what they are afraid to see, forcing them to feel things no one wants to have to feel.
A first time client may have heard that hypnosis is a relaxed, sleep-like state. They are sometimes shocked at how difficult, even exhausting, are the journeys I lead them on in this supposedly peaceful state. I explain that in order to make deep and lasting change in a very short time, I must turn up the flames of Alchemy and pump the bellows hard. The results? Nearly every client I see reports phenomenal healing in only a few sessions, vastly exceeding their expectations. Frankly, most come to appreciate the hot fires of alchemy that I generate ... even if they don't always look forward to this week's session. I recently helped a 75 year old client heal her body of terminal emphysema. After several sessions of almost brutal self examination and emotional processing which left her exhausted, she returned her oxygen tank, and was able to run upstairs with her grandchildren. Her doctor declared her. disease free. But ... she worked for it!
Our process depends on these hot fires to be rapid and successful. And these fires are carefully contained within the sealed vessel, the alembic that is my therapy office. Protected within the enclosure of my professional confidentiality, compassion, and competence, and only in the safety of this vessel, can the client feel safe enough to explore and heal the deepest and most painful prima materia within their souls.
I will conclude by quoting a warning I give to all my clients:
One should consider exploring the path of Alchemy only if one is willing to work hard and devote oneself in body, mind, and spirit to a process of transformation that will require every ounce of your strength, your courage, and your faith. There is no room for wimps, tourists, or dilatants on the path of Alchemy. The rewards are nothing less than the pure gold of self realization in a body that is healthy, fit, and strong.
