TRANSFORMATION

• Alchemy is the art of transformation for the better. Transforming things into their highest form.
• Alchemists believed that observing a transformation allows one to see the essence of the universe, and see the “One Mind“
• Transformation is everywhere.
• “Transmutation” refers to the ancient art of the transmutation of metals, particularly of base metals into gold. “Transmute” means “to change from one nature, form, or substance, into another; to transform.”

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THREE TYPES OF ALCHEMY: 

Physical/Exoteric Alchemy

• Performing experiments in the laboratory to refine a material to its purest state; the transformation of baser metals into higher metals, using the elements (air, earth, fire, water) 
• The goal is the Philosopher’s Stone
• The “Alchemical Dragon” is associated with an indefinable substance known as Philosophical Mercury.

Spiritual/Esoteric Alchemy

• The transformation of your spirituality / transformation of the spirit and soul (spirit ≠ soul)
• Refining the baser parts of yourself (fears, doubts, self-hatred) to reveal your true nature and your enlightened self.
• You must use your internal alchemical tools – your willpower and “fire” – to drive your spiritual transformation. You are the master. You are the only person who can change yourself.

Mental Alchemy

• The transformation of your mind, your identity, and ultimately realizing that the ego is unknowable.
• The goal is to break down elements of our identities that have become rigid or stuck. These elements are known as Salt, and represented a limited view of who we really are.
• “Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art.” (The Kybalion) 
• Mental Transmutation: the art of changing and transforming mental states, forms, and conditions, into others

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THE 3 PHASES & SEVEN STAGES OF ALCHEMY

PHASES:
1. Blackening (Nigredo)
2. Whitening (Albedo)
3. Reddening (Rubedo) 

STAGES:
1. Calcination (Nigredo)
2. Dissolution (Nigredo)
3. Separation (Albedo)
4. Conjunction (Albedo)
5. Fermentation (Rubedo)
6. Distillation (Rubedo)
7. Coagulation (Rubedo)