What is Alchemy? In today's world, a good definition of Alchemy is the personal transmutation or spiritual evolution within ourselves. If we look at alchemy in the 17th century literature or even more ancient times, much of it is bound up within ancient alchemy symbols, which often only the esoteric architects of alchemy can understand. Using complex series of symbols was not only necessary as a consciousness tool; it was a necessity to avoid persecution in some cases.

When we study the great works of the western world at Educate Yourself for Tomorrow, it is with the understanding that the great authors and artists bring out this process of alchemy and transmutation within their works. Let us take Goethe for example. To many he is just the great poet and playwright. Less known is that early in his life he studied a great deal of alchemy. Many of his works can be seen as modern versions of classic alchemical works, helping the ardent student to consummate what is known as the alchemy wedding ceremony within, the achievement of our true individuality through self knowledge. Through his emphasis on metamorphosis and flow, much of his work can be seen as a kind of alchemy water symbol of flow, movement, and growth. Learn Goethe's method of personal introspection and science in our course HUM 202: THE HIDDEN WISDOM OF GOETHE, an online personal growth workshop in the alchemical tradition.

What these great writers and artists have done, whether they are Plato, Goethe, Rudolf Steiner, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci (for facts about Leonardo Da Vinci press here), William Blake, Mozart, and Beethoven or Somerset Maugham is distill the essence of alchemy chemistry and alchemy symbols into literary or new artistic forms so that by studying them we may share in the benefits of personal transmutation. In today's world it can be very difficult to go back into the frame of mind of the ancient alchemist to try to understand the ancient alchemy symbols which were generally kept behind closed doors as esoteric knowledge. But what we can do is look at the artistic work of some of the greatest minds and experience how these alchemy archetypes are passed on in ways that are more amenable to modern consciousness. How do we achieve our own alchemy wedding ceremony within our own individuality? Just as the circle in alchemy is an ancient symbol of wholeness, can we apply this unifying principle in our own lives?

This is the struggle and achievement of many of the great authors and artists which we study at Educate Yourself For Tomorrow. Each of our courses is like an online spiritual growth workshop, where we study these great people and increase our self-knowledge, following the ancient maxim of the west, to Know Thyself.

Alchemy Symbols

Alchemy Wedding Ceremony

Alchemy Circle Symbols

Alchemy Water Symbols

Alchemy Course:
HUM 404: THE ALCHEMY OF TRANSFORMATION

Learn about the process of birthing the "True Self" or "I" through the alchemical processes of fertilization, gestation, and birth of the higher person. This course provides both theoretical and practical application of the alchemical process of "turning lead into gold". Click here for more information about the Alchemy of Transformation.

HUM 202: THE HIDDEN WISDOM OF GOETHE

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) had by any measure one of the most profound minds of all time and an example of a modern alchemist. Goethe developed the basic principles of morphology, the branch of biological science which deals with the form and structure of animals and plants. It was Goethe who is given credit for naming this science from the Greek word "morphe," meaning "form," and "logos," meaning "active principles of." Goethe's poetic and philosophical mind urged him to seek the supreme synthesis, and reduce all diversities to a higher unity, seeing a depth of reality beyond merely physical forms. The plant is an ancient alchemical symbol of purity. The same processes that underlie plant growth are reflected in our spiritual development as human beings, in terms of ancient alchemical symbols, turning lead into gold. This course helps you gain an understanding Goethian science as a method of personal introspection, helping us see how nature is in fact a book of knowledge, for which if our eyes are opened, we can begin to read...

 more information...

HUM 201: LEONARDO, THE TURNING POINT

Leonardo da Vinci was always motivated through his observation of reality "to transcend the real," to provide for humans something beyond the materialistic. Everything he did was the expression of some inner reality and everything he made, either in art or science, expressed something more. Thus his whole life and work is one of the first modern examples of the spiritual scientist - the individual who can reunite religion, art and science in a modern, transformed way, the act of coagula as an act of alchemical growth. The student will become familiar with the art of Leonardo da Vinci with special emphasis on The Last Supper and Da Vinci's astrological depictions of the 12 Disciples as an ancient alchemical symbol...

Facts about Leonardo Da Vinci and course outline, click here...

Alchemy Wedding Ceremony

Excerpt from our course, Benjamin Franklin, American Initiate:

Characteristic in the same way of the Western spiritual tradition as a whole was the internally oriented path called Rosicrucianism, which manifested the truth that the Kingdom of Heaven now lies within. It came to the attention of the public early in the 17th century through the publication of an inspired document, "The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz." This work, written out of an intuitive state of consciousness by the 17-year old Johann Valentin Andreae, is a vivid description of an initiation experienced entirely within, through the faculties of the soul. "The Chymical Wedding" describes the results of pursuing a scientific path to spiritual knowledge: a path we can call spiritual alchemy if we clearly distinguish it from any mercenary efforts to transmute metals. The difficult training this requires brings about the entrance of one's full consciousness into the processes of the soul. This training is unlike both the "mystical union of yoga and monasticism wherein the practitioner has an experience of the soul replacing one's full consciousness. Rosicrucianism was a spiritual science in contrast to the modern instrumental study of nature, wherein one's full consciousness remains in the external world at all times...

Learn more about alchemy and apply this to your own self-development and growth in our course Benjamin Franklin, Initiate, where you not only learn how one of the founding father's of America was both a Freemason and a Rosicrucian.

Water as a Symbol of the Unconscious in Alchemy

In alchemy, one aspect of water symbolism is as a symbol of the unconscious forces within our psyche. This is often portrayed as an ocean or a pool, where things lie below the surface of our conscious mind. We can either choose to ignore the forces that lie within our individual and collective unconscious, but if we do this, they will continue to affect us, often through our habits. Not only that, but all of this submerged consciousness has many potentials, which if we can learn to access we can draw upon for our own creativity and benefit. This is one aspect of the alchemical process of turning lead into gold, or the Great Work, the pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone.

So, how can we use an alchemy water symbol to approach the unconscious? One way is to work with the symbol directly, for example through visualizing water, perhaps an ocean or a pool, and through this use of the imagination explore the forces behind it. Another way is use the works of the western alchemy, Rosicrucian, Freemasonry, Gnosticism and spiritual psychology to explore our psyche and our full potential, to find out what symbolically lies beneath the water's surface.

Alchemy Circles

Circles in Alchemy are a symbol of wholeness and interconnection, and can be seen as a symbol of unity and spirituality. The circle is a symbol which can be found in many forms within the western mystical tradition. Let's look at chalices, specifically, the Holy Grail. This is a circle symbol, which reflects receptivity to the spirit above. Being a circle, it is a symbol of balance and unity, just as the zodiac is a circle balancing the 12 archetypes or astrological symbols. This is very clearly represented in Leonardo Da Vinci's work, The Last Supper, which is a form of the Holy Grail.

 However, not all alchemy circles are visual; some of the greatest spiritual thinkers of the west put the ramifications of the circle in literary form. For instance, Goethe, profoundly influenced by Alchemical and Rosicrucian thought, works with developing wholeness within our consciousness through an approach which helps us develop the ability to enter into the archetypes behind the material world, into the unity that is at the depth of matter (see HUM 202, our course on Goethe). Similarly, Plato's idea of the forms is a circle philosophy, finding the unity at the depths and heights, rather than the transitory in the particular (See our course on Plato). It is by using the works of these great spiritual thinkers that we can develop the meaning of the alchemy circles symbol - wholeness - within.

However, much of what stands in the way of wholeness is our own ego, which is why alchemy has put such an emphasis on the act of transmutation or turning the base into Gold. This is why the great thinkers of the west have put such an emphasis on open-mindedness and self-questioning. In HUM 208: UNDERSTANDING THE MODERN EGO, explore the roots of the modern ego, so that we can begin to question our own assumptions about ourselves, opening ourselves up to the personal transformation.

Learn more about the Rosicrucians

Alchemy

Learn about alchemy in a modern form at Educate Yourself for Tomorrow, using some of the greatest minds of the western world as your guides. Due to the way that the majority of our western thinkers are taught at our major educational institutes, we look at their works as intellectual, not spiritual. However, if we work closely and openly with these works in an active and introspective manner, we can explore ourselves through an alchemical path of spiritual development and personal transmutation.

Personal Alchemy through Water

Much of alchemy deals with purification. This can be accomplished by actively working to try to understand ourselves, and removing or "washing away" that which no longer serves us, the use of water in alchemy which is a part of growth and alchemical transformation. Socrates was declared the wisest man in Athens by the Oracle at Delphi, to which he responded that if this was so, it was only because he realized that he doesn't know anything. It is this openness to experience which is so prized along the path of spiritual development, a point made clearly by esoteric teacher Rudolf Steiner on numerous occasions.

Alchemical Fire Symbol

Complimenting this process are "fire" activities, where we cultivate certain forces within us which can foster our creativity and dynamism, which we must learn to master within ourselves. These forces can lead to tremendous insights, which can come in flashes of insight, breaking apart the limiting conceptions of our ego, leading to greater consciousness and freedom, alchemically turning lead into gold.

In order to foster our spiritual growth, how do we go about activating these important processes? One way is to work with material from great men and women who have undergone many of these processes themselves and apply their insights, through your own individual experience, to yourself. This is how we have designed our curriculum at Educate Yourself for Tomorrow, to help you explore many of the spiritual masters of the western tradition. At Educate Yourself for Tomorrow, we offer numerous courses which help you examine your own conception of life, helping you move forward on your spiritual path towards greater individuality and freedom.