So many fruits and seeds in this, thank you for sharing of your and Mark’s storehouse of wisdom. I particularly love your mead metaphor’s and so want to try your late summer Mead!
My partner has been a mead maker for years too and seems similarly attuned, she labels the meads she makes and bottles “Chrysopoeia”.
Lastly, thank you for this bit in particular:
“Alchemy is one of those exciting words, that can get mired in arcane and esoteric fancies, and not make it into ordinary life. But practical metaphysics, embodying change, making gold out of dross from all our encounters and relationships, is what counts on this Earth. One of its principles is that in order to change, the past has to be relinquished to feed the future.”
I’ve felt mired in the putrefaction of Nigredo for so long, have so much dross to burn off, that I think I expected some miraculous change to know that a clearly marked line had been crossed and that it was over. Yet it’s in the small things, the argument you don’t need to have, the offense you let slide and don’t react to, the loosening of the need to not be right, and that shift you mention toward community rather than our individual selves.
Welcome, Alchemy - even in the disappearing of farm stands and lovers, and the browning of drying leaves - but especially in what I expect to be constant or reliable.
So many fruits and seeds in this, thank you for sharing of your and Mark’s storehouse of wisdom. I particularly love your mead metaphor’s and so want to try your late summer Mead!
My partner has been a mead maker for years too and seems similarly attuned, she labels the meads she makes and bottles “Chrysopoeia”.
Lastly, thank you for this bit in particular:
“Alchemy is one of those exciting words, that can get mired in arcane and esoteric fancies, and not make it into ordinary life. But practical metaphysics, embodying change, making gold out of dross from all our encounters and relationships, is what counts on this Earth. One of its principles is that in order to change, the past has to be relinquished to feed the future.”
I’ve felt mired in the putrefaction of Nigredo for so long, have so much dross to burn off, that I think I expected some miraculous change to know that a clearly marked line had been crossed and that it was over. Yet it’s in the small things, the argument you don’t need to have, the offense you let slide and don’t react to, the loosening of the need to not be right, and that shift you mention toward community rather than our individual selves.
Thank you 🙏
So much within your words here, both said and unsaid, touched me deeply. Thank you, Charlotte.
Welcome, Alchemy - even in the disappearing of farm stands and lovers, and the browning of drying leaves - but especially in what I expect to be constant or reliable.
Thanks, friend
Thank you Charlotte. Your words are part of a larger call I'm feeling, and I find your thoughts helpful.
❤️
Thank you for sharing these thoughts: just what I needed to read today! And a practice I will try out very soon...