Excerpts from: The Book of (St.) Stephen: Jung’s Secret Quaternio and the Modern Living Alchemical Myth, by Stephen M. Linsteadt.

The alchemical process includes four stages, distinguished by: blackening, whitening, yellowing, and reddening. These also correspond to the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air and to the four directions South, North, East, and West.

The blackness is the initial stage and represents the quality of the prima materia (the black ash of matter, the dust of maya or illusion). It is the reduction of the metal to its basic material. Then there is a union of opposites between the active, male, fire, air, spirit of Mercury with the passive, female, water, earth spirit of Sulphur. This is followed by the death of the resulting product of the union. From this the washing (ablutio, baptisma) either leads directly to the whitening, or else the soul (anima) – which is released at the “death” – is resurrected. This is seen as the “many colors” or “peacock’s tail” that is the white color that contains all colors. This is the first main goal, referred to as the silver or moon condition (albedo, lapis albus, tinctura alba), which still has to be raised to the sun condition (rubedo). When the heat of the fire is raised to its highest intensity, the albedo is transformed into the rubedo. The red and the white are King and Queen, who may also celebrate their “chymical wedding” at this stage (mysterium coniunctionis). Said simply, the reduction of the metal to its basic substance is represented by the color black; the addition of purified mercury represents the color white; yellow is the adding of purified sulphur; the mixture of the ingredients turns the solution red, and the reaction of these spirits results in gold.

The concept of the water plays an important role. It is not simple tap water. It is the water from which everything originates, the philosophical water, the very substance that is the prima materia itself. It can also be said that fire plays the same role as water. Yes, alchemy is one seeming paradox after another.

Also, vitally important in this whole process, is the vessel in which all this is taking place. It is referred to as the Hermetic vessel. It contains all the substances to be transformed. The work (Opus) is performed inside a vas, a vessel or closed container that is not changed by the heat of the transforming fire. It is also known as an alembic or still.

The first alchemical absolute is the union of opposites, where at the root of all being there is a state where physicality and spirituality meet. This is represented symbolically as the circle of union or wholeness containing the four elements, the four directions, and the four races of humanity. This mandala symbol is also widely used in American Indian traditions with the same wholeness of the four directions in mind.

From a psychological perspective, this represents the harmonization of opposing forces, such as masculine and feminine, and the wholeness of the psyche. This idea is reflected in many myths from native or natural people of the past. There is a Mapuche Indian story, for example, that tells of the murder of the Goddess, the feminine, describing the birth of the patriarchal society, ruled by the Father, the Sun, the archetype of all power and life that subdues the female archetype of the moon to a position of acquiescence. Male domination can only maintain self-empowerment to pursue their quest for individuality and freedom of possession by vanquishing the feminine influence (Franz, Alchemy, p.214). As a consequence, such societies lose the feminine nurturing for people’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. This causes society to lose the sense of community and connection to each other.

Von Franz emphasized that today’s young people can’t give up on the process of doing the work on themselves. She encouraged them to go into battle with the shadows of their unconscious instead of escaping into a fantasy (TV, video games…) (Matter of Heart). Her approach is not intended to sound anti-Christian. She explains that it completes Christianity and other religions by bringing the opposites closer together instead of externalizing our shortfalls and taking them to confession without observing their messages, meaning, and challenge for personal growth. (Franz, Alchemy, p.260)

About how to create a living modern myth, von Franz said people must reflect and take back their projections. “We need to take the opposites within ourselves instead of projecting them onto other people” (Matter of Heart). This is what happened during World War II when people projected all their problems onto the Jewish people. We take a risk when we demonize Muslims or profile people with middle-eastern decent as terrorists or potential terrorists. In our own state of imbalance we automatically bring unconscious archetypes and their energy into our lives as a countermeasure. Carl Jung explained that when we deny their existence, “They become an inexplicable source of disturbance which we finally assume must exist somewhere outside ourselves” (Alchemical Studies. p.36). This, he says, leads to collective delusions and ‘incidents’ such as revolutions, war, and to destructive mass psychoses (Alchemical Studies. p.36).

Cell phones and the internet have put people in touch with one another. The World Wide Web has been called the framework of a new global consciousness. Everything that happens everywhere in the world today is instantly posted on the internet for all to see. The airwaves are saturated with information. Synchronicity is becoming a frequent phenomenon, as one only has to think of an old friend and an invitation to be their friend on facebook miraculously arrives in your email. It is the feminine principle in action. We now have a worldwide community where people from every culture, race and religion are merging into one global consciousness. The internet is taking the masks off the men.

The alchemical process has shown us the importance of confronting our outer conditions. It calls us to reflect on our negative attitudes towards others and ourselves. It insists that we bring the spirit of nature back into our lives; that we spiritualize every moment of every day. When the masks are off the masculine, we are able to see behind the media story of the ‘evil doers’ and at once recognize the people in faraway lands as being our neighbors, our friends, our brothers and sisters. When we have that connection with others and view our world as a global community it causes the feminine principle to go into action, make changes to our environmental policies, help those that are starving or homeless, and to reach out to each other as though we are all in this together.

The modern living myth is told every day. It is each of us living out the alchemical process from within and on the outside. It is listening to our inner guidance. We saw this externalized in the stories of people who were tapped on the shoulder by their inner voice to gather others and carpool across the country to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.