The Alchemy of Transformation

In the Alchemical tradition, the highest aspiration is the fertilization, gestation, and birth of a higher being within the soul of the lower human personality. The first birth is into a body of flesh, governed by the laws of nature and returning to nature when we die. Alchemists seek a second birth that is, as Jung said, a work against nature (opus contra naturam). In the second birth, a Spirit Embryo is fertilized and brought to term by conscious work. This Spirit Embryo is called the "I Being" by Rudolf Steiner, the "True Self" by Carl Jung, and "the parent who would never lie to us" by the Kahunas of Hawaii. These names relate to different functions of a being residing in human consciousness as if asleep and awakened only by conscious acts of will and rhythmical practices. To understand Alchemy, we’ll read selections and exercises to help us build organs of cognition that function in the world of sense and in the hidden world of the spirit.

Estimated average course time for completion of this course: 4 weeks