The Alchemical Fire

The Art of Alchemy is an ancient path of spiritual purification and transformation; the expansion of consciousness and the development of insight and intuition through images. Alchemy is steeped in mysticism and mystery. It presents to the initiate a system of eternal, dreamlike, esoteric symbols that have the power to alter consciousness and connect the human soul to the Divine.

The word "alchemy" is derived from the Arabian phrase "al-kimia," which refers to the preparation of the Stone or Elixir by the Egyptians. The Arabic root "kimia" comes from the Coptic "khem" that alluded to the fertile black soil of the Nile delta. Esoterically and hieroglyphically, the word refers to the dark mystery of the primordial matter (the Khem). The aims of the alchemists were threefold: to find the Stone of Knowledge (The Philosophers' Stone), to discover the medium of Eternal Youth and Health, and to discover the transmutation of metals.
In the alchemical process, the fire necessary for the calcinatio comes from the frustration or repression of the instinctual desires and passions. The fire of calcinatio is expressed by one's frustrated desire, for example, "I'm burning up inside" or "I'm burning with anger. Calcinatio can only take place by the means of the inward heat of the body. By the frustration of our desires and the denial of pleasure, our passions become their own punishment. In the essence of the flame, calcinatio brings the ability to see the archetypal aspect of experience, experience as the ethereal fire.

Fire in ancient times was associated with the gods and was the chief method of sacrifice to the gods. Fire was the connecting link between the divine and human realms. That which was sacrificed by burning was made sacred, and ascended to the upper regions. Myths of fire told of the transformation from the earth realm to the immortality of the gods. Demeter makes Demphoom, the child of the King and Queen of Eleusis immortal by holding him in the fire. The psychological meaning of the fire bath of immortality is that a connection is made between the ego and the archetype, making the former aware of its transpersonal, eternal or immortal aspect.

The fire of Rosacea, in alchemical terms, is the "burning up" of aspects of the psyche, the transformation to a new self. The skin manifests the psychological process with red eruptions that occur through emotional or hormonal upsets. Rosacea is a metaphor for the tremendous potential for transformation during the peri-menopause and menopause shift. Often dreams during this period will be catastrophic: dreams of earthquakes, tsunamis, fires while the body will heat up with nightsweats and hot flashes. These symptoms and images are a manifestation of the tremendous psychological power that is emerging through the pathology of Rosacea.