Articles

The Alchemical Process and the Metamorphic Technique

There are different movements that reveal the quality of our being.  This revelation is of course the movement of transformation.  In the alchemical process, there are two great phases with three stages to each phase.  These two phases are called: solve et coagula, dissolution and coagulation.  This knowledge is relevant in the practice of the Metamorphic Technique with our clients, because they come to see us at various levels in the transformation of their patterns. 

The first phase can be very difficult because it involves the disintegration of the personality, which includes the ego and the mind.  When the elements of the personality begin to dissolve, this means that there are fewer and fewer reference points.  For example, a reference point could be 'to do, to do, to do' and allowing oneself to be defined by those ceaseless activities in one's everyday life.  The knowledge that we have a role in life is very comfortable; we are recognised as being this person that does that activity. 

As far as the ego is concerned, we explore in the workshops how to bypass it while using it and this is done through using the expression "there is" instead of "I" e.g. "There is tiredness." instead of saying "I am tired".  The ego being put in its place,  the energy of the activities, the emotions or the feelings is no longer used to affirm the ego.  By saying "I am tired," a part of the energy of the tiredness is used to ensure the survival of the ego, whilst by saying there is tiredness, the energy of tiredness is a food for the being to transform. 

The mind also uses a tremendous amount of energy to ensure its own survival.  We bypass the mind by calling upon feeling.  Hence the importance of the expression, "Do I feel that this is right for me to go there, to do this, to meet that person?"…and so on.  Using the word 'right' is extremely important because if we referred to the Universal Principle of Communication/communion/Harmony we discover that the essence of that principle is objective love and the state that accompanies it is the state of grace; this state is present when everything falls right.  We let go of the activity in order to come into action.  Action is a movement of being, activity is a movement of the mind and of matter. 

What concerns us as practitioners is the importance that we hold to give our clients the feeling of the continuity of their being, as the dissolution of the elements of their being is taking place.  And this can happen through our own intensity of being.  In order to put this in a context that we all have experienced, let's imagine that when children become adolescents, there is a lot of energy that rises in their body.  This means that the elements that were of paramount importance as children are disappearing.  The parents' love at this time will give their children the feeling of the continuity of their being. 

As children, we have a completely free ground at our disposal, that is to say we function very closely to our innate intelligence.  And very quickly, there is attachment to the parents.  They become our reference point and especially the mother.  In the general scheme of things the function of the mother is to be present with the child up to puberty.  And then from puberty, the father must be present.  It is he who must introduce the teenager to the social structure.  It is through the mirror that others present us from teenage years onwards that we can have an insight into the qualities of our being.  What does the mirror reflect?  It is reflecting the scaffoldings that we have built from our birth, which has created our personality.  These scaffoldings I call also the reference points.  We will behave towards others in the same way as we have seen our parents behaving towards us and towards one another, and also in the same way that people were behaving towards our parents.  These scaffoldings must go and it is why, from time to time during the workshops, people feel that I say shocking things, for example "that we must kill our parents."  We need the emotional energy that we project towards our parents to start parenting ourselves truly. 

Parents can remain simply good friends.  To kill one's parents means much more than preserving the emotional energy to parent ourselves because we are our own parents.  That is to say, it is one cell of your father and one cell of your mother which after uniting divided themselves.  And when your parents came into existence it was the sperm of your grandfathers and the ovum of your grandmothers that divided as well.  This means that we annihilate our ancestors through coming into being, but our ancestors were able to remain alive thanks to their environment; food, the plants, the minerals, the sun, the light and so on.  This means that there is an annihilation of things that constitute the material elements of our being.  This is the dissolution that I was referring to, but this is one domain. 

The other domain is life and intelligence that incarnate in each one of us, slowing down their movement to manifest in time, space and matter.  This means that life and intelligence have gone through all the stages of subtle energies.  This also must be annihilated.  This is what St. John of the Cross called 'The middle of the night'.  And from time to time we meet this void in the context of the principle of Communication/Communion/Harmony whose essence is objective love.  Objective love doesn't tolerate any object.  The love of life and the love of the light disappear.  When there is perception of this dissolution and also a perception of the rightfulness of this dissolution, there is an attachment to the dissolutions that come about.  Even that attachment will go.  In some writings it is called the dissolution of the dissolution.  This is a summary of the three first minor stages. 

What is important is to be conscious of the principle of being when all the contingencies begin to dissolve.  The richness of our being is diminished in its expression through the fact that we hold onto the crystallisation of our being in our personality.  Personality is a kind of jewel case which prevents the richness of our being to be expressed or to be manifest.  It is the personality that crystallises the elements of our being.  On the one hand, it is important that the personality be a very beautiful, artistic expression but on the other hand it is also vital that we remain conscious that all expressions or manifestations are happening in the domain of duality.  The disintegration of our personality is the first stage. 

The second stage happens when there is a deep understanding that all our systems of belief are nonsense.  Our thoughts give substance to our beliefs.  All these belief systems must disappear.  It is then that a movement of the heart as intuition is very important.  However, we must be very clear in terms of intuition.  There are two types: one that comes from a sublimated knowledge and the intuition that is a pure movement of the heart.  How can we distinguish between the two? The first type always entails an element of doubt.  The intuition which is a pure movement of the heart is a generator and pushes to action and that action is a creative action, that is to say there is an act of faith, a leaping into the unknown but without any proof that we'll land somewhere, that we'll reach achievement.  It is a question of holding on well to the essence and to let go of all contingencies and all belief systems so that our essence, the essence of our being is extracted from the different aspects of our being.  If we want to extract the perfume of the rose, the rose will disappear but also we must be extremely careful that this perfume doesn't vanish into thin air, as the Sufi put it.  This brings us to identify with our pure consciousness, the one and unique vibration, the body and the mind being the vehicle for this consciousness.  Pure consciousness is the Universal Principle of Vibration, and we know that this principle is the one that allows existence to be set into motion.  This principle is operating in the domain of unity, out of time, space and matter. 

The third stage, after having gone through total dissolution such as the caterpillar will know in the chrysalis, is the stage of the emerging of the butterfly, so to speak, where there is identification with the essence of our being.  It is then that detachment is so important because it allows us to touch the source of life beyond all form. Detachment is defined as noticing the facts, acknowledging their presence and letting them be.  "Noticing and acknowledging" imply perception and consciousness, "facts" implies power, to "let"  implies duality, and finally the word "be", the source of life, beyond all forms.  There is a deep feeling of peace that is present.  Imagine the butterfly that has just come out of the cocoon with all the labour that it entails, this butterfly rests.  There is peace.  But it is not joy, it is peace. 

Having been totally destroyed both in personality and in all our means of survival, and having renounced everything, even the sensation of being, having even renounced renunciation which was the great night of the soul and of the understanding through which St. John of the Cross went, only then do we come to the fourth stage which is the stage of re-formation, coagulate, true incarnation.  Careful, it is not us who reform ourselves.  There is the experience of a kind of rebirth to which we can participate with intention.  But it is the being of our essence which reforms itself.  It is no longer us who create new forms.  It is then that we understand that the two forces of life are operating; the dissolution and then resolution (coagulate) which is expressed in the form of the caduceus. 

Conception such as we study it in the prenatal pattern is the meeting of everything that descends from subtle realms (pre-conception) and everything that ascends from the earth (parental inheritance that we be, contained in the genes).  But now I am strictly in the domain of unity referring to these things that are about to take place.  The cells of our body however are the cells of our parents; the cells of the beginning of our parents are the beginning of their parents.  It is thus that we can go back to Adam and Eve, in mythology of course.  Plants nourish themselves from the earth and minerals and from the air, the sun and the light.  And we feed ourselves with plants.  Our inheritance is not only the inheritance of our forbears but also of all matter from the beginning of the universe up until now.  On the other hand, it is all the subtle domains which focalise themselves to create a new human being.  We therefore have the force and the magnetism of the earth and of matter and we have also these subtle forces that descend, attracted by magnetism, to meet within the zygote and become each one of us.  This happens at conception; we have the incorporation of the beginning of the universe and also the memory of all the subtle domains.  This is the fourth stage which is the process of re-formation, transformation being the incarnation of a new human being.  The mind however will tend to put barriers to this perception. 

The counterpart of the dissolution is the re-formation, a new formation; the elements of our being that were important have gone.  But it is the being itself which reforms, fits together the new form. For example, all the elements that made up the caterpillar have disappeared when the essence fashions a new for, the butterfly.  In the alchemical process we can compare this to gold.  There is a very great certainty based on the fact of the perception that the person is nothing, but at the same time is everything.  Hence the importance of affirming the autonomy, the authority.  It is the true self which has been reformed by the being.  It is there that the matter and spirit meet in our being.  This meeting is no longer determined by something external, it is the essence that expresses itself directly.  This is the general pattern that we all meet but generally people will fluctuate between happiness and depression; there is confusion, they don't know what is happening in that moment, nothing goes and then a lot of energy is spent to maintain the status quo.  And we hold onto what we think is good or what we feel is okay and we try to reject what we feel is bad or ghastly.  We live our life as they say but it is not a life.  It is the robot that lives one's life. 

What do we do during the workshops?  We inform ourselves of these structures.  This doesn't mean that we stop experiencing these fluctuations.  But we meet them in consciousness and we start perceiving that indeed there are deep states of void through which we can live.  If we embrace this void, this dissolution, knowing what it is on the one hand and if we are attentive not to hold onto states of ecstasy on the other hand, we proceed with balance.  However, we must be careful that this middle way that we cultivate in every day life doesn't turn into a state of stupidity. "Be careful one must not go to extremes, let's have a cosy life."  Let us explore extremes as well in order to be able to detach from them in consciousness.  That is why we are aware that when people come to receive sessions they come for themselves.  The fact of being very conscious that we do this work for ourselves allows for an intensity of being to be developed which lights up in others a deeper perception of their being.  We apply to the letter this sentence 'love thy neighbour as you love thyself.'  The measure of attention and love that we give ourselves is exactly the same measure that we are going to give others. 

The fifth stage is the stage of the expressions of our autonomy, and beyond, of our authority where it is important to affirm our new being because there is always a tendency to return to the status quo, to return to what is comfortable, to surrender to the pull of gravity.  And our surrounding or environment, friends, family and so on, will put pressure so that we return to what they know, with what they are familiar.  Hence it is important that we be very attentive and very calm.  However, humility doesn't mean self-depreciation. 

You realise the importance of the intensity of being because wherever you are, whoever you are with, you always bring to any circumstances your inner world.  Hence we realise the importance of being attentive, in one's self to what is.  If there is fear, you bring the energy of fear.  Fear is a little quality but what is behind it is the energy itself.  If you are depressed, there is depression and that is a small quality of your being.  If you say there is depression, then you refer to the energy that expresses itself in this way.  If there is joy in you, joy is a small quality but what you bring to the other is the energy that there is behind it.  This is what we call power.  This means that you are constantly in a place of power in yourself and you act from the house of your being.  What do other people take from it?  They realise the importance of functioning from the house of their own being.  You awaken their consciousness to the importance of their power and the union of power and consciousness is communication in unity and when there is communication in unity, there is transformation so you see the elements of the equation.  Some people will cultivate their power but if there is no consciousness of their ways of being, there can't be communication.  Others will be very conscious of their predicament but they refuse to own their power.  There is again no possibility of communication in unity hence, no transformation. 

What is the difference between autonomy and authority?  In transformation autonomy disappears because the reference points disappear.  We could say that autonomy is to be an authority for oneself, is the power or right to exercise self-government.  Autonomy is based on law.  It is extremely important because it implies the realisation that we are totally alone.  That is to say nobody can sleep, breathe or love for oneself.  It is we who do that for ourselves.  There is this deep perception of total solitude or aloneness.  We are born naked, we die naked, and we can bring nothing with us in the tomb.  When there is this realisation that we are totally alone, there is autonomy then, which means to come home to the house of one's being.  However, autonomy must disappear in dissolution because the reference points that we have created for ourselves must go.  But when there is a new formation that is happening thanks to the being, through the being, then authority is established. 

The word authority comes from the Greek Autos and Ity.  Ity means: that which pertains to or that which is in connection with.  Autos means: self, the true self.  This has nothing to do with ego.  Authority is the affirmation of our being, of our essence, of our true self.  In this affirmation there is nothing to find, it is simply a question of being and here we come to this affirmation of being by asking the question: "do I feel that it is right for me…?" There are three possible answers, yes, no, I don't know. 

Let me relate something that happened to me at the medical level.  Some years ago I was driving my car in the evening and I lost consciousness.  I hit the central reservation before coming to immediately and was able to park my car in a secondary road.  I then realised that I was not able to function any longer.  Finally, I had to see my doctor because of the terms of my insurance and he referred me to a specialist in neurology who diagnosed epilepsy.  I was not convinced.  He prescribed some medication.  Finally, my girlfriend said that the problem might be due to low blood pressure.  I bought a monitor and took my blood pressure, which was a bit low but it was okay; however, the pulse rate was at 32 b.p.m. (beats per minute).  I kept a diary and I found two or three times a day that it was oscillating between 32-35 b.p.m., the normal was between 60-65 b.p.m.  I went back to the neurologist.  I showed him the three weeks diary and immediately he sent me to have an electrocardiogram.  The outcome showed that there was again a very low pulse rate.  I was told I should have a pacemaker, but I wasn't convinced.  Then I undertook a 24-hour cardiac test which showed that during the night the heart had stopped beating altogether for a few seconds.  To the question "is it right for me to have a pacemaker?" the answer was no.  After a series of physical tests, it was shown that I had to stop the exercises, not because of the heart but because of the tiredness.  Later on, I was advised that the electroencephalogram showed that there was no problem with my brain.   One day, I was receiving a body massage and the masseur told me about a type of cleansing work that he was doing.  Immediately I felt that was right for me.  I mentioned to the cardiologist that I had the impression that there was something not quite right with my digestion.  I had all sorts of tests again, an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, which did not find anything out of kilter.  I did the cleansing work during the summer over seven weeks and the heart started functioning between 55-60 b.p.m.  The problem came from a malfunctioning of the digestive system.

It is extremely important to be listening in and to feel what is right for oneself.  By functioning from the standpoint of one's authority it is possible to find the answer to all the problems.  If I had not done this, I would by now be taking pills for epilepsy, I would have a pacemaker and I would have lost the right to drive my car. 

We are happy to go to the table of the gods but what we are content to be fed are the crumbs that fall from the table, like the small animal or dogs that are fed under the table.  But the subtle beings wish us to sit with them at their table, that is to say that we recognise what we are truly, that we be like gods sitting at the table of the gods but the mind says no, be careful it is dangerous.   The mind is right because the gods want us at their table for two reasons, one to have a true dialogue because we bring to that table the experiences of matter and the perception of different levels of being and this satisfies their curiosity.  But the second reason, which is much more important, is that they want to feed on us because all the inferior levels of being are there to be the food of higher levels, for example plants nourish themselves from the earth, fulfilling a specific function which is to transform inorganic matter into organic matter.  Animals and humans eat these plants.  The same process is carried on at higher levels so that we are eaten up by higher levels. 

Of course the gods are subtler levels of our own being.  This is another way of looking at dissolution but what is happening is that it is life/intelligence that creates itself in reforming itself through the human being, and it is in that way that we become diamond-like or gold, the ultimate end of the alchemical process.  In the past this would happen with specific individuals more or less once every hundred years for example, but now it is groups of people who become diamond-like with multiple facets.  There is not much to do but "it" is done.  We can't help the transformation.  The only thing we can do is to stop putting obstacles in its movement and this is happening thanks to detachment. 

The last stage therefore consists in recognising that, in the crucible of our being, there is a spiritualization of matter and materialisation of spirit, that is to say there is the meeting of matter with spirit and spirit with matter, which allows us to live a life whose action is constantly right, impeccable.  We humans can be the perfect balance between these two.  This life then becomes an act of love as we embrace in consciousness the domain of duality, of time, space and matter, and the domain of unity, out of time, space and matter.  And it is this love that you can transmit through your intensity of being, in life and while giving sessions of the Metamorphic Technique.

Gaston Saint-Pierre
April 2007