In
the Julian calendar, which was being used in England when he was born,
Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642. When the Gregorian calendar
went into effect, that shifted his birthdate to January 4, 1643. One
website I read proposed that the two dates should frame "The Ten Days of
Newton," and it should be celebrated as a holiday period in honor of
the many discoveries and developments that came from Newton's
explorations. That would make a good Pagan holiday out of something
scientific...
Nor is it possible to make those distinctions between the Mystic and the Occultist that have from time to time been attempted; as when it is averred that the former follows the path of Love and the latter the path of Power and Knowledge.
from THE SECRET FIRE: AN ALCHEMICAL STUDY by E.J. Langford Garstin
An interesting meditation I have been pursuing for some
time now is "How do you tell what's real alchemy?" How do you judge who
knows their alchemy and who doesn't? During my recently-ended
association with the Grey School, I considered the one other person who
was primarily associated with the alchemy department to be inexperienced
and their teachings flawed based on their approach and explanations, or
viable lack thereof in the latter. In the last few weeks I was told by
a friend of a duo on Kickstarter working to raise funds to start an
alchemy laboratory and make spagyrics. Having read their pitch and
watched their video, I felt they don't demonstrate an appropriate level of
knowledge and experience for what they are attempting to do. Their recently added FAQ
which states they just joined the IAG doesn't carry any weight in that all
you have to do to join is pay your reg fee. I emailed a few questions, and while the guy who answered seemed nice enough, the reply I got is that they are about to go into the cannabis oil biz and sort of run an alchemy lab on the side. I'll stick with buying my spagyrics from the folks in OR who I met back in 2007 for now.
How much opinion comes from educational experience? How much from association? For me, both of those are easily a solid two-thirds of what informs my decisions. The last third, which I've just recently come to name, is "the fire." At the Esoteric Book Conference, I had a great conversation with a man and bought a deck of meditational alchemy cards he made. He gave me a slim booklet of compiled artwork on the side for free, because he said he could see I had the fire for alchemy. The spark, those flames, are something I look for in fellow alchemists. That woman at the school and those guys on the internet.... I'm not feeling the heat, I'm not seeing the fire.
Moving from the macrocosm to the
microcosm, how do I judge my own alchemical growth? I follow the Wheel
of the Year as an alchemical cycle, moving from calcination through to
projection, and then repeating. Yule is calcination. What do I need to
burn away? What am I doing to obscure myself? What is my dross? I'm
not surprised I finally left the Grey School this year. It wasn't
serving my magickal growth. My original goal in joining the school was
to study alchemy, and that wasn't happening. I had issues with how the school was being run, how the curriculum was developed and I feel that most of the teachers don't hardly practice magick themselves. That last month there I was continually aware of being in an
inflamed state of mortifactio.
I got through my two solstice vigils in better physical shape than I anticipated. The solo one was my longest yet, and I only dozed off once about 5:15am and woke up after about 15 minutes. I broke the night into nine alchemical phases and did an appropriate spagyric each phase. I picked an incense for each using my pendulum, and drew a Goddess affirmation card too. For something I found in the toy/game aisle of the thrift store for just a few dollars, those cards have been amazing. I should bring them to use for a daily draw at PantheaCon. At the second vigil I was at the apartment of a couple I met at the cob workshop this past summer. Among their other guests was the guy who owns The Purple Store (where my 'unapologetically purple' t-shirt comes from) and a man who was part of the Pagan group who staged the ritual at the alchemy conference last May. He was the one handing out the small keys at one of the gates. I offered several rounds of gongfu tea in the night, and the new water warmer (gift from my aunt and uncle in Boston) worked beautifully.
Perhaps I'll revive my alchemical tea ritual at the alchemy conference....