Inner/Outer

The Egyptian word for alchemy can be translated as “black soil”. Of course, black soil is rich and highly nutritious for the plants that grow in it. If you drop an avocado pit into the soil in Hawaii, it may grow into a tree within a few years. If you drop the same pit into the Siberian tundra, it may not grow at all. The avocado tree grows best in ecology of energies that are supportive of its growth. So too for a person’s unique nature.

We’re used to thinking that everything we are ends at the edge of our skin. Alchemy holds a different view: that the external world reflects and interpenetrates our inner world. As the poet Gary Snyder puts it, “The world is our consciousness. And it surrounds us”. When we are heavily identified with our egos, we lose much of the richness that could support us in being who we are. The art of alchemy changes this. Stars, stones, plants, natural elements,  mythical creatures - much of the world that we think of as outside of us or even purely imaginary can become part of our “soil" - part of the matrix of energies and qualities through which we discover and mature who we are - and express it into the world.

As a student of alchemy, Carl Jung applied this principle in some of his theories.  To Jung, synchronicity - meaningful coincidence - was important because it involved the physical, outside world as an active force in what he called soul-making. In Jung’s words, when we hold a steady intent that we mature the richness of who we are, the world will collaborate in the project. The wider alchemical tradition offers ways to amplify this effect.