“Alchemy is a profession of marginals; those at the edge. Those who live from their own fires, sweating it out, self-sustaining their own temperatures which may be at variance with the collective climate.” — James Hillman

ALCHEMY OF THE WORD is a new project and the culmination of years of research and teaching on the relationship between the astrological planets and alchemy. It takes the form of 8 video recordings on the seven original planets alongside their corresponding metals and alchemical processes through the lens of art and the creative process, with generative prompts and trippy-beautiful music by CONTAIN.

When you purchase, you’ll receive:

12+ hours of video recordings with 100+ color slides

Alchemical and astrological resources for further study

LECTURE TOPICS:
CHAOS AND COSMOS / SATURN AND JUPITER
THE RAVEN SYMBOLISM
MARS AND VENUS
THE ALCHEMICAL VESSEL
MERCURY / DIVINE WATER
MERCURY: MEDIUM, MEMORY, MADNESS
SILVER AND GOLD / SUN AND MOON
THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE / GOALS OF THE WORK

DETAILS

In the sacred art of alchemy, base metals are turned to gold, chaos into cosmos, primal material into subtle glimmers. Alchemy is grounded in the material world and attuned to the invisible. It’s a language and practice filled with strange vessels, creatures, substances, planets, stars, and processes of merging and separating. Things in our material world correspond with another, invisible one: inner with outer, earth with spirit, heaven with earth, the planets up above with the metals hidden in the ground. Profound and surprising conversations emerge from these occulted associations. In my experience, studying these correspondences is psychedelic, generative, and helpful in the artistic process and life at large.

You’ll take a piece of writing or art through the alchemical stages from primordial blur to greater understanding. The idea is to bring something, whether that’s an idea, a novel, a poem, or a pile of words and images, and work on it steadily – getting to know the work’s hidden languages and potentials. In alchemy, gold is already present in lead, cosmos in chaos.

My hope is that you’ll return to these recordings with any number of projects in order to see the work/world differently. No prior alchemical knowledge necessary. And no preparation or prerequisites, just curiosity.

Sources include ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance alchemists and philosophers, as well as major western alchemical manuscripts such as Paracelsus, Nicolas Flamel, Rosarium Philosophorum, 12 Keys of Basil Valentine, Donum Dei, and Splendor Solis, as well as artists, writers, poets, and astrologers including Carl Jung, Demetra George, Liz Greene, H.D., Yeats, Julia Kristeva, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Arthur Rimbaud, Albrecht Durer, Anne Carson, Leonora Carrington, and others.