The alchemy of Easter

Life is all about transformation

I am currently making my way through lots of esoteric Christianity. They are the ones which were the heretical Christians which did not subscribe to Roman rule. I began my journey fittingly enough, with my research on Patrick. I used to think that Patrick was some kind of horrible evangelical religious nutcase who got rid of Druidism, however it turns out this is a 13th century reimagining of Patrick. Really he was a contemporary of Brigid and his version of Christianity was much like the other Celtic Christians - where there was a pretty good coexistence between the natural spiritual world and an understanding of the incarnating Christ.

It has been really wonderful drawing together things in my life which were seemingly random but have actually had a theme all along. Feminist spirituality, the goddess, the natural world and shamanism, conservation and ecology, biology, Tarot and Gnosticism/Hermeticism, mythology, and now esoteric Christianity, - and anthroposophy which belongs to this.

Over Lent i read about the Holy Grail, the Parsifal myth, looked at the Tree of Life (as opposed to the Tree of Knowledge), been reading through Steiner's lectures on the Gospel of St John, and of course now been introduced to alchemy by way of soapmaking. Being in Birmingham was also incredible - to be in such an old place and to see the incarnation of this impulse as reflected in the works of the Arts and Crafts movement was also such a previlege. I was brought to tears several times standing before stained glass windows and seeing such beautifully crafted pieces of work made with the convinction of our dignity.

It is rather interesting that at no point does Steiner ever mention happiness. He NEVER talks about being happy. Never. He talks a lot about the evolution of the cosmos, the human being's place in that, and everything else that entails. He talks a lot about observation and thinking - his six basic exercises do not say for the feeling part - you should try and be happy. He says practise positivity and as for feelings go for equanimity. If you are feeling overwhelming joy or sorrow balance this out. This is quite difficult for me really, although it must be said i can see the wisdom in this. I think, yes, when I am balanced i can feel and see everything, rather than be dragged from one side of the room to the other. Just try this and see what happens... (I wonder if Bhudda talked about happiness? People talk so much about meditatin giving you happiness that i am trying to remember if any primary Bhuddist texts talk about happiness - i think they talk about the liberation from illusion and suffering and samsara and dharma, but i don't think they say anything about happiness. Is happiness then the absence of suffering? Hmmm...)

I don't think he is saying that emotions are not real. Of course they are real, especially since we have astral bodies - what he is saying is that they are so real they need to be trained. Just as one trains the will.But not in the kind of ascetic way - in such a way that we are transforming them. Which brings me to alchemy.

I have been thinking that after i get the Forest School and other stuff this year out of the way i am going to look into the sacred geometry of flowers, the planets and also alchemy. The bloke who did our soapmaking workshop was incredible. He was talking about the tradition of alchemy which essentially acknowledges that there is a spiritual side to science, it is not just about matter, and how this has developed parallel to mainstream science. However, he said, that there was a need to bring the revelatory and transformative nature of language and observation to this hidden science so that it is able to stand up beside the now incresingly bizarre and fallen nature of mainstream science (genetic modification being a case in point) and say this method of living and understanding the world is just as valid as the traditional ways of doing science. This means knowing mainstream science and knowing the hidden traditions and working them together. It is fascinating.

What i loved about the soapmaking workshop was when we asked questions sometimes, he would say, you should just try it. That is an experiment. It was also an aknowledgement that while this experiment may have come out this way for him, for someone else it could turn out differently. This is why it is always a good idea to cultivate an attitude of humility i think. I don't know and you should try it... i did it and it was like this... maybe it will be different for you.

Well there is another week left for Easter. My parents are now here and that has been so lovely. Hopefully things will move on a bit more.

Last night i was thinking to myself about the inner journey and how this inner journey has brought me on an outer journey as well. I also thought that it would seem that finally, at the age of 43, i have discovered what would appear to be my life's work. I don't know if it will continue being my life's work of course, but i don't think i have ever felt anything call so deeply to me - nor be composed of so many different aspects which may be explored, on a path which enables me to participate ethically, ecologically, socially and spiritually so fully. In all previous work something inside me was being compromised - here there are no compromises. The only thing which is asked of me is to keep an open mind and that is the very opposite of compromising.