Tag: conjunction

Albedo: The White Phase of Alchemy

Eleanor2 Comments

If we have been able to surrender to the darkness of the nigredo, we may find that a shift begins to occur. 

The blackness that once seemed to only grow ever deeper begins to recede. The heaviness starts to lift as we relinquish our attachments to past beliefs, habits, ways of being, etc.

As with any death, the decomposition of these old forms releases a great amount of energy that is now free to be used in new and different ways.

It is not enough to meet our shadow in calcination or to grieve and release our past pain and sorrows through dissolution.

We must then proceed into the next stage of the work, the separation and the conjunction which comprise what is known as the albedo, or the white phase of alchemy.

In the process of separation, we are tasked with using our discernment to determine which parts of our shadow (our repressed and previously unacknowledged qualities and other psychic material) are worth saving.

Not everything that we meet in the darkness is to be feared. We may often be surprised to find there is much that is worthwhile and good there.

These positive traits are sometimes referred to as “the gold in the shadow,” which refers to the unrecognized parts of ourselves that have value and are truly authentic to us. These could be the parts of ourselves we learned to hide or diminish due to disapproval we may have encountered from parents, peers, or other parts of our society.

The second operation of the albedo is known as conjunction. It involves the reunion of the disparate elements which were separated in the previous phase. It also requires a rebalancing and harmonization of the masculine and feminine parts of ourselves. The result is the creation of “the lesser stone,” or what is sometimes called “the Philosopher’s child.” 

The conjunction requires that we become comfortable with the apparent duality of our being, and join the forces of our soul and spirit. The result is the development of what the Egyptians called “the Intelligence of the Heart,” a condition or state of being where logos and eros are united in the self to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

The Age of Horus

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On December 21, 2020, a Great Conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn occurred at 0 degrees of Aquarius.

For some, this marked the official beginning of the Age of Aquarius. However, others debate this and assert other dates as being the true beginning of the age and the resetting of the cosmic clock.

Regardless of the exact date, I think many of us can feel there is a certain something in the air that shows there are indeed noticeable shifts happening.

The Age of Aquarius is lauded by many as the beginning of a New Age of progress for humanity, when the people will take control of the Earth, truth will be revealed, and a huge wave of individuals will experience great shifts in consciousness and expanded awareness.

However, others believe that in this age, religion (as in the Age of Pisces) will be replaced by knowledge (or facts or data) as the main tool used by secretive, powerful elites to control the masses.

But my favorite explanation of this time is found in equating this time with the Age, or Aeon, of Horus, as pictured here in the Aeon card of the Thoth tarot.

As the son of Isis and Osiris, Horus represents the Child archetype, the salt of earth which combines the qualities of spirit and soul from both sides of his lineage.

This fact points to the importance of what precedes us, and the legacies which we have inherited. To move into the Aeon of Horus, we will have to transition out of the Age of Osiris, or the time of the Father, with its patriarchal perspective and value system. It was an age concerned with control and dominance, as well as counterbalancing themes of sacrifice, suffering and death.

Before this, came the Age of Isis, or the Mother. During this time, matriarchies ruled the Earth. The land herself, and the beauty and pleasures of the body, were then the object of worship.

The Aeon of Horus is expected to be an age of alchemical transformation, in which the inherited qualities of previous ages are integrated and wholly embodied in our selves.

Creating the future does not involve a rejection of our past, but a careful examination of our full inheritance along with choices made of what we will choose to embody and carry forward.

As a feminist, I strongly believe that creation of a new world does not involve rejection of the masculine in any way. The feminism I believe in rejects only the patriarchy and its rigid systems of dominance and control. It is this rigidity that keeps both men and women locked into our respective roles, living as one-sided attempts as human beings.

Integration of the masculine into the feminine, or the animus with the anima, is the only way to create new life, and a new world.

As a result, we are being called to embody our inheritance in a way that honors the fullness of our humanity. That integrates our thoughts and our feelings, our spirits with our bodies, the forces of Eros and Logos, drawing strength from both chaos & order, structure & freedom.

It is only when we have integrated our dual and complementary ways of being that we will know that we have arrived. It is then that we may experience the joys promised by the initiation of this new age.