DAY 18 - The Philosopher’s Child

‘When I discovered the truth of who I really was, I discovered a victor, not a victim: a king, not a pauper—a fully integrated soul full of the light of Love.’ Colm Holland - The Secret of The Alchemist.

The ancient alchemists discovered another interesting phenomenon in their purification process or healing process - and that was a fundamental duality in the very nature of matter.

They found positive and negative characteristics within their psyche as it was being healed which they identified as male and female: the king and queen or sun and moon. The significance of this discovery is crucially important to the successful completion of our emotional healing.

Healing is very much about inner unification.

The ancient alchemist worked hard to merge two inner opposing powers, the male and female. It was in that unity, that inseparable joining together, that producing gold was achieved; and with it came a new level of integrity and strength.

To make practical sense of this, the alchemists divided the healing process into two parts: separation and conjunction.

Separation enabled the alchemist to finally isolate the nature of the real inner person they freed from the control of the needs of the unconscious self and the pretense of the conscious self. In other words, healing and wholeness can take the place of a divided self.

In graphic form the ancient alchemists often represented this as a sword ready to cut open that which was concealed, and so expose it to light and air. Having identified the parts of potential value, they could raise them to a higher plane of enlightenment.

As part of the inner healing, that which was despised and rejected as having no value is allowed to grow towards the light of Love.

This was called conjunction and it allows those revalued parts to combine to form new matter.

This renewed and re-combined self they called The Philosopher’s Child.

When the opposing true elements of the self combined, the ancient alchemist did not know what new person would emerge. What they did know, however, was that the combination of the male and female would produce a child with a new consciousness, dominated by neither the patriarchal nor the matriarchal elements. A child free to be her or his own person.

This philosopher’s child is in essence a higher intuitive being. She or he combines the thirst for action of the male with the heartfelt passion of the female; this union of thought and feeling lives in a state of reality and integrity.

Here is our mantra for today:

I will let Love form in me my new inner child.

Tomorrow we will look in more detail at how you can nurture your new Philosopher’s Child in all areas of your life.

Remember I have asked Love to give you everything you need to be the Alchemist in your world.