The Philosopher’s stone is the legendary end result of the alchemist’s quest: the quest for gold, for health, eternal life and wisdom. In depth psychology alchemy has been studied as a powerful metaphor for the psychospiritual growth and maturation process: the long process of becoming conscious of the unconscious and integrating it into a whole and balanced Self. This is a process of turning the lead of repressed contents of the psyche, both shadow and transcendent, into the gold of integrated awareness. The alchemical work is a process of many years (truly decades) of commitment to your own psychospiritual development, and a deep engagement with the unseen and unintegrated depths and heights of the psyche.
Often through working with trauma an individual will come to realize how their life has been controlled by it, and with support will move towards healing and new strength. When we are able to heal trauma and are empowered by that recovery process, there is a philosopher’s stone of priceless value granted to the alchemist who stays with the process. When our own personal trauma combines with collective trauma there are especially great consequences, and when we work to heal, integrate and understand these larger dimensions of trauma, there is a unique potential for healing on both a personal and collective level.
Of course, we are not just working to integrate these more challenging parts of the psyche, often just as important is integrating an awareness of our higher divine self, integrating our spiritual peak experiences, our joy, and our bliss, into a balanced approach to life.
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Alchemy is a slow process, like the slow movements of the outer planets, and it’s end goal of the Philosopher’s stone is a very rare result that is only rewarded to the most patient alchemist. We have just experienced one of the rarest of astronomical events: a tight, sustained, Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto triple conjunction, and to my eyes, this is the ultimate crucible for the end stages of the alchemical process. I’d like you to consider that no matter where you are in your own psychospiritual growth process, this moment in the history of the earth’s movement through the solar system offers a once in many lifetimes opportunity for forging wisdom that you will never lose in your soul’s journey going forward.
What is the key to late-stage psychospiritual alchemy? It is the process of integration: being with the most powerful and impactful experiences of our lives (past, future, and parallel lives as well) and mining them for meaning and purpose. I’m suggesting that right now and the coming weeks and months are the rarest opportunity for doing that kind of integration practice.
As we can now see some hope of the pandemic easing its grip, it is a great opportunity for doing the integration practices that help to distill out these touchstones of clarity and for leveling up to a new baseline of consciousness.
Working with astrology is of huge help in the Alchemical process. Not all moments in time have the same opportunities for growth. Some years hold greater potential than others, and I believe there has rarely been a more helpful moment in history to take your own personal process all the way to the Philosopher’s Stone.
I’ve described the astrological alignments of 2020 and early 2021 as being so rare and so powerful, that a kind of once-in-many-lifetimes type of wisdom can be yours. I see the first four months of 2021 (and especially March and April) as being the best months for integrating this wisdom. This is the early stages, but perhaps you can already see your philosopher’s stone of understanding crystalizing in ways that will aid you in your journey from this point forward.
I want to encourage you to focus on the week of March 8th through the 14th as a particularly good time to be engaging in this integration process. During that week the Moon goes across two different triple conjunctions of planets making them each quadruple conjunctions for a few days. These quadruple conjunctions are very rare alignments that I like to call super portals. So this means that that week there are two of these super portals opening, with their multiple new cycles of time beginning.
First the Moon goes across a Mercury-Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunction (I’m calling this alignment the "Philosopher’s Stone Super Portal"), and it coincides with the last of the inner planets going across the Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto triple conjunction that dominated 2020 and has been ending in these last weeks. Thus Mercury is the final activation of this alignment while the other three planets are relatively close together. During the 9th-11th the Moon joins Mercury and the others, and gives an opportunity for a personal vulnerable connection, on a feeling level, with the profound energies of this past year.
What’s great is that this alignment of the Moon with Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible before sunrise. For the next two weeks it is very worth waking up early to go out somewhere with a clear view of the eastern horizon, about an hour before sunrise, and if the sky is clear you will see Mercury very close to Jupiter, and with Saturn about 9 degrees above Jupiter. On March 9th, the Moon will join above Saturn and on the 10th it will be very close to both Mercury and Jupiter. It is very rare to these 4 planets so close together (it will be 20 years before you get another chance), and so I hope you will get out to see it. If you do, it would be an excellent time to pray for inspiration and perhaps do some ritual practice as you open yourself to receive loving messages of guidance.
The second super portal I’m calling the “Heart Chakra Super Portal of 2021” (video coming soon), and it comes just a day after the first super portal, when the Moon moves onto a Sun, Venus, Neptune triple conjunction. Those three planets are already conjunct and will continue to be so through about March 21, with the days the Moon joins (March 12-14) being the peak of the alignment and the best days for prayer and ritual practice.
This is a fantastic alignment for connecting with the spiritual love force, for opening the heart and for practicing loving kindness with both yourself and others. For me, this conjunction is the safe landing pad we’ve been looking for after a year of extreme turbulence. After a year of fear and loss, Venus offers sweet healing waters with Neptune, and the Sun lights a beacon so you know how to find her. This is the perfect alignment for surrendering to a love force which can bust your heart chakra wide open…if you let it.
Philosopher’s Stone Ritual
In closing, I want to suggest a ritual for integrating the intensity of this last year and finding some touchstones to ground you and guide you going forward. See if you can set aside some intentional time for meditation and reflection on this last year since the pandemic began. See if you can inquire into your own unique experience.
What new wisdom, growth and maturity have you earned on a soul level from this past year?
What are the touchstones of awareness that you want to take away from this profound historical moment, to sustain, empower, and guide you through the coming years, and coming lifetimes, of your personal journey?
What was the hardest lesson of the pandemic, and what did you learn? What are the unexpected gifts of the pandemic, and what have you learned from them that you always want to remember to guide you on your path forward?
This alignment represents the end of an age. What in your own life are you decisively ending so that a new age can truly begin in your life?
Perhaps see if you can distill out three key ideas or thought forms that you can summarize in a sentence or two, and then write them down in a journal. Take some time to refine and clarify these thought forms as much as possible so they can most easily be remembered, and perhaps distilling them down to just a few words.
Now find three small stones or crystals that you feel a loving connection with, and with each of your clarified, succinct thought forms, hold it strongly in your awareness and focus it at the position of the third eye. Now bring the crystal that you want to use to anchor and remember each idea, and hold the stone at the third eye as you ask for help in remembering and fully integrating the idea into your approach to life.
Imagine sending the thought form into the stone with strong focus and intention, perhaps saying it out loud with power and force, and feel the stone receiving it and agreeing to help you to remember. Add any other of your ritual practices to this process, knowing that the more time and energy you devote to it, the greater the likeliness you will really anchor what you are trying to remember. Now find a small bag for your stones and place them in it along with whatever else you want to carry in the medicine bag to aid you in your journey ahead.
For more of my thoughts on the astrology of this super portal of possibilities, please watch my video. Sending blessings to each of you. Love! Light! Peace!