Adam McLean - Study Course on alchemical sequences
Resource material for lesson 6
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Crowning of Nature.
The First Cycle of Separations and Conjunctions.


At the beginning of these cycles of changes, the elements stand in their normal relationship to one another, that is in the order of their densities - Earth, the densest, at the bottom of the flask, then Water, Air and Fire, the most subtle, at the top. The true work of metamorphosis occurs during the central three groups of Separations and Conjunctions, 20-21, 22-23, 24-25. The two outer cycles involve, in 18-19, the outpouring of the elements and their arrangement into their normal relationship (Conjunction 19), and in 26-27, the re-integration of the elements into the Earth element (Conjunction 27).
So we shall now look at the total picture, focussing upon the central three cycles of transformation. We have the following metamorphosis of form.
18  - 19      20  - 21      22  -  23      24  -  25      26  -  27   
Sep - Con     Sep - Con     Sep -  Con     Sep -  Con     Sep -  Con

Fire  Fire          Water          Air            Fire           Air
           \              \             \
Air   Air   \       Air    \       Fire  \        Water          Water
             \              \             \
Water Water   Fire  Fire    Water  Water   Air    Air            Fire

Earth Earth   Earth Earth   Earth  Earth   Earth  Earth   Earth  Earth
During the Separation phase each element in turn remains at the bottom of the flask with the Earth, this element being the one which stood at the top of the flask during the previous Conjunction phase. The two elements remaining in the upper part of the flask during the Separation phase are free to metamorphose into each other, and during the following Conjunction, this new interrelationship passes into a more rigid and fixed form in the bottom part of the retort, where all four elements come together again.







The four elements initially (figure 19) bear their own special color, but their various transformations into one another as the cycle progresses are indicated by a change of colour. Thus in figure 21, the Water which has been changed into Air, bears the Air color (Blue), and the Air transformed into Water has taken on the Water color (Green). Thus we have a cycle of color metamorphosis paralleling the changes in the forms of the elements.
18  -  19       20  -  21       22  -  23       24  -  25       26  -  27
Sep -  Con      Sep -  Con      Sep -  Con      Sep -  Con      Sep -  Con

Yellow Yellow          Blue            Yellow          Blue            Grey

Blue   Blue            Green           Green           Yellow          Grey

Green  Green    Yellow Yellow   Blue   Blue     Green  Green           Grey

Grey   Grey     Grey   Grey     Grey   Grey     Grey   Grey     Grey   Grey
These can be further analyzed so that one begins to see two cycles of transformation working through this process.
     Fire                 Fire
    /   \                /   \
   /  A  \              /  B  \
  /       \            /       \
Air--<--Water        Air-->---Water

[Clockwise]          [Anti-clockwise]

A being a subtilization, a movement from Water to Air to Fire, while B is the opposite, a fixing or descent into more dense states.
At the end of this process each of the three non-Earth elements, Water, Air and Fire, has undergone a cycle of transformation into the others, and thus now bears within its being the essence of the other three elements. At the conclusion in the Conjunction (figure 27), the elements stand in the following relationship:
Air                                 Blue
Water                               Green
        corresponding to colors
Fire                                Yellow
Earth                               Grey
which we find acts as the starting point for the second cycle of Separations and Conjunctions in figures 31-36.
I have only touched upon a few facets of this cycle, in order not to complicate the picture unduly, however, much more can be extracted from analyzing and synthesizing the transformations through the Separations and Conjunctions. The color and form metamorphoses can be followed in greater detail, and the interested reader should try to work with these in their own exercises.