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Alchemy;
Solutio
The solutio is change through the element of water. While fire burns away moisture in the calcinatio, here
water dissolves the structure and substance of some aspect of your life. Solutio is found in the imagery of
melting, floods, the sea, drowning, water, intoxication, dismemberment, devouring, tears, sex, dew.16
It becomes apparent that the calcinatio and the solutio are both variations of the mortificatio, because they
involve the necessity of letting go of what existed up until now, and passing through a transitional stage
until arriving at a new and transformed state. This is the “rebirth” so often mentioned in alchemical texts.
Implicit in alchemy and in the journey to your Home—the True Self you originally were and which it is
your destiny (“make firm, establish; place for which one is bound”) to be—is the idea of rebirth and re-
newal. None of these transformative deaths is final. Think of the losses you have experienced in your life:
a marriage ending, a career over, a friendship lost, a role finished. You survived them all, even when the
letting go experience of the death of what was passing may have felt as if you were being annihilated. It is
the nature of the deaths we go through that we cannot see what will come after. If we could we would be
reassured. This is where faith comes in.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.17
The message of the soul as reflected in the fantasies of alchemy is a life-affirming one, encouraging us to
take the leap by portraying transformation in all its agonies yet promising renewal and rebirth.
The state of imperfect transformation, merely hoped for and waited for, does not seem to be one of torment
only, but of positive, if hidden, happiness. It is the state of someone who, in his wanderings among the
mazes of his psychic transformation, comes upon a secret happiness which reconciles him to his apparent
loneliness. In communing with himself he finds not deadly boredom and melancholy but an inner partner;
more than that, a relationship that seems like the happiness of a secret love, or like a hidden springtime,
when the green seed sprouts from the barren earth, holding out the promise of future harvests. It is the
alchemical benedicta viriditas, the blessed greenness, signifying on the one hand the “leprosy of the
metals” (verdigris), but on the other the secret immanence of the divine spirit of life in all things.18
106
Alchemy, Transformation and the Soul
The fantasy of the solutio probably came from the alchemists’ observation of what happens when a solid
substance dissolves in a liquid, just as their calcinatio was derived from perceiving how a solid turned black,
or to white ash, or a liquid evaporated when heat was applied.
In your experience of the solutio you will find yourself “drowning,” or turning to a kind of mush or primary
substance like that which the caterpillar becomes before it emerges as a butterfly. This is not a painful
burning like the calcinatio where desire is frustrated. Instead you feel immersed, in over your head, and like
you’ve lost the feeling of the solid ground under your feet.
Dreams of tidal waves, being at sea, swimming pools, bathtubs, puddles and other liquids may signify the
presence of the solutio in your life. It is a time when structure dissolves and plans and goals are fluid. This is
a good time to make uncertainty your ally. Remember how it is said that when someone is struck blind, their
other senses become more acute. Your usual sense of orientation and direction are temporarily submerged
as you melt from one form into another, and in this transitional lost space, look for ways to orient yourself
other than those you are most accustomed to relying upon.
Once again in this transformation you are called upon to let go, let the waters of change go over your head
and to lose your previous sense of self, of identity. Trust in these same waters to bring renewal and rebirth,
to wash you clean of your errors and limitations for a fresh start.
T HE PEARL WITHIN.DISCOVERING THE R ICHES
OF THE UNDERWORLD
PHILIP LEVINE , M.A.
Chapter Nine
Alchemy, Transformation and the Soul
ELOQUENT WRITER OF THE SOUL ,has this to say about the mysteries of alchemy and
A psychological attitude does not come about through escape from the tangles and problems, or the joys
and pleasures, of ordinary life. Like the clouds, psyche remains close to earth but not embedded in it. It
has the moisture of mist, feeling and passion leading not simply to action but toward deep reflection.
Heating, cooking, boiling, and baking are alchemical procedures—literally and figuratively. Dense, solid
substance can be cooked with thought and reflection until its subtle elements, trapped within, escape.
Under the heat of passion, knotty problems in life rise into consciousness in the forms of images and
moods. As a person ‘stews over’ predicaments and plans, life may become less productive but its soul-
value deepens. In therapy, or in any psychologically moving situation, what has been stagnant and heavy
begins to bubble. Dormant memories of the past rise to the surface, and feelings formerly kept covered
and quiet break through. On the ‘hot seat’ of confrontation with formerly neglected issues, memories and
feelings begin to loosen and move about. What has been allowed to settle as sediment, causing heaviness
and immobility, under the heat of alchemical attention becomes unsettled and unsettling.
At various times in psychological life it seems appropriate to boil, bake, roast, fry, or just keep warm.
Sometimes a fantasy needs incubation—warmth and containment. The alchemical vessel was seen as both
womb and tomb, a place for birth and a place for decay, but always a place for containment. In us the
retort is the vessel of memory and imagination, holding events and fantasies where they can be subjected
to the heat of passion and feeling or to the simmering of thought and reflection. In this retort, events of
life decay, losing their literal form, but they also ferment, acquiring taste, bite, and body. A good cook of
the psyche knows the best combinations of temperature and time, when to let things simmer and when to
bring them to a boil.1
The “Hymn of the Pearl” is our story which tells how we left our home on a mission while still a child:
“When thou goest down into Egypt and bringest the One Pearl which lies in the middle of the sea which is
encircled by the snorting serpent, thou shalt put on again thy robe of glory and thy mantle over it and with
thy brother our next in rank be heir in our kingdom.”
On our journey to retrieve the Pearl, we forget who we are while visiting a foreign land (Egypt):
Egypt as a symbol for the material world is very common in Gnosticism. . . that is, the world of matter, of
ignorance, and of perverse religion.2
At an early stage of development Egypt serves as a nourishing, protective mother. Later she becomes
bondage and tyranny from which to escape.3
After journeying “downward,” partaking of the foreign food found there, “I forgot that I was a king’s son
and served their king. I forgot the Pearl for which my parents had sent me. Through the heaviness of their
nourishment I sank into deep slumber.” Through the partaking of the purely materialistic and literal view
of the world, that of Egypt, we have forgotten our royal heritage and mission. We have forgotten the Pearl.
A pearl is a precious gem that is formed from layers which grow abnormally because of an irritation. Is our
Pearl also grown in this way, and if so, how differently does this portray those irritating façets of personality
which trouble us, the very things we wish would go away? We will return to this idea shortly when we take
up the alchemical prima materia or massa confusa.
Because our royal parents have somehow perceived our situation, “. . . they wrote a letter to me, and each of the
great ones signed it with his name:
From thy father the King of Kings, and from thy mother, mistress of the East, and from thy brother, our
next in rank, unto thee, our son in Egypt, greeting. Awake and rise up out of thy sleep, and perceive the
words of our letter.Remember that thou art a king’s son: behold whom thou hast served in bondage. Be mindful of the Pearl,for whose sake thou hast departed into Egypt.
Remember thy robe of glory, recall thy splendid mantle, that thou mayest put them on and deck thyself
with them and thy name be read in the book of the heroes and thou become with thy brother, our deputy,
heir in our kingdom.
“Remember that thou art a king’s son or daughter.” Remember that you are descended from royalty, and
so your rightful heritage is to rule in your kingdom. You are endowed with the birthright of (co-)rulership
over your inner world, on behalf of and in cooperation with your Father and Mother, the mysterious King
and Queen who gave birth to you, your Source and Foundation.
“Be mindful of the Pearl.” “Be mindful of the Pearl.” This book is about being mindful of the Pearl,
the Mystery that must be retrieved and brought Home. It seeks to articulate the relationship available to
you with the underworld of the unconscious; its message is like that letter, sent by “the great ones.” It
says, “Awake and rise up out of your sleep.” Remember. Remember your robe of glory (“praise, honor, or
distinction, a distinguished quality or asset”), this part of you that is your most praiseworthy asset. Your
True Self may be covered over with years of conditioning and prejudice, veiled by desire for approval and
wealth, but it still remains, waiting like the Pearl to be rescued.
Remember. Be mindful of the Pearl.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value,
he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.4
The King and Queen did not send their entire kingdom to retrieve the Pearl, not even the other brother, just
the one son whose dharma was to fulfill this mission. Each of us has also been sent here to complete a task;
we each may be called.
Try to realize the moment has come to remember, and be mindful. We are here to live a life that has meaning
and substance, to embody the best in us (as well as the rest). In our desire to fit in, to be acceptable, we must
not lose sight of the core part of our nature that has something unique to offer and which may only be
realized through the courage to follow our mission.
Using ideas from the fields of psychology and religion, assuming they are different names for the same
thing, we have tried to describe this journey as one in which you recognize and engage with the Mystery
under the name “unconscious,” which truly describes nothing other than that which you do not know. To
find who you truly are, you must encounter and accept that part of you which has remained in the shadows,
and which holds the key.
This is of course a great risk, because you cannot know at the outset what you will find. Not knowing, most
do not make the effort, afraid that what they will find will confirm their shameful memories, revealing them
as not worthy. Not worthy of what? What is it that we unconsciously fantasize we will be unworthy of?
Isn’t it our “robe,” our “mantle?” Our heritage and calling? Yet because we remain unconscious of this, we
fulfill our fears and doubts. Holding back from we know not what, we ensure that we will in fact not carry
out our true calling. The way to break this cycle of failure is to recognize your fears and their source, and to
realize that YOU WILL DIE, and are dying.
With the fearlessness of the terminal patient or someone brought back from death, you know you have
nothing to lose anymore. Because not risking fulfilling your True Nature is death itself anyway. Bringing
yourself to face the true reality that your life will end, may end today, is the way to let go of the provisional
“soon,” “when I’m ready,” “someday” that holds us in prison and keeps us asleep.
And what shall thy soul say when it wakes and knows
The work was left undone for which it came?
Or is this all for thy being born on earth
Charged with a mandate from eternity,
A listener to the voices of the years,
A follower of the footprints of the gods,
To pass and leave unchanged the old dusty laws?
Shall there be no new tables, no new Word,
No greater light come down upon the earth
Delivering her from her unconsciousness,
Man’s spirit from unalterable fate?
Cam’st thou not down to open the doors of Fate,
The iron doors that seemed for ever closed,
And lead man to truth’s wide and golden road
That runs through finite things to eternity?
Is this then the report that I must make,
My head bowed with shame before the Eternal’s seat, —
His power he kindled in thy body has failed,
His labourer returns, her task undone?5
Imagine your funeral, your obituary—not as a morbid exercise, but as an opportunity in fantasy to recon-
sider your life. Life can only be weighed at the end. Until then, you make it and its worth with your choices
and actions.
In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the soul of the dead is brought before the goddess of Justice and Truth,
Maat, who wears a feather on her head. Beside her is Ammut, Devourer of the Dead, a beast part crocodile,
part lion, and part hippopotamus, ready to destroy the deceased if his heart should be full of sin (“sin”
means “missing the mark”). The heart of the deceased is placed on one side of the scales, and the feather of
Maat on the other. The truth in the heart, the living of one’s truth, is the crucial factor that determines the
destiny of the deceased after life.
What if you faced such a weighing of the truth lived in your heart during your life?
We live in a time which is largely neglectful and therefore ignorant of these things. Our education and
upbringing offer almost nothing to help us to examine and become familiar with ourselves. We are largely
on our own and without support as we try to remember and be mindful. How many of us have even heard
the term “mindful” used?
Imagine living in a land where being mindful and living your inner truth were what mattered most.
So the underworld of the unconscious is full of treasures and demons, and we are so strangely without
resources to find our way. It is as if we live on the edge of a jungle filled with terrifying and wonderful
creatures, but we have no way of knowing their natures and which are which. This leaves us starved for
psychology, the modern term for mapping the soul. The psychology of the university is totally unequipped
because it only dares to address the quantitative and measurable. The unconscious is treacherous and tricky
enough without our having to go into it blindly and unprepared.
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