When Dr. Sexson set out to teach us about Emergent Literature and the five themes behind it, he also, unexpectedly taught us the fundamentals of a completely different subject: Alchemy. Each of the five themes that we examined in class, as well as many of the books we read has a deep connection with the process of Alchemy. In the beginning of the semester, Dr. Sexson explained that there are two type of literature—kenosis and plerosis—emptying out and filling up. This is exactly what Alchemy is about: emptying out the unnecessary ingredients and filling back up with something else to create something pure, just as the authors of the works we read also intended to do.
Alchemy has a long and complex history. The first real book on “Alchemy” that has been uncovered comes from China, in the year 142 A.D. The book was mainly about the importance of Yin and Yang, but also presented many chemical processes. The first time Alchemy was defined as such was in 400 A.D., by a philosopher named Zosimos who was either Egyptian or Grecian. He defined alchemy as “the study of the composition of waters, movement, growth, embodying and disembodying, drawing the spirits from bodies and bonding the spirits within bodies.” In the Middle Ages, it was so widely practiced that the period of time is sometimes called “The Age of Alchemy.” At this point, Alchemy became less about religion and more about science and medicine. Interest remained until the 1600’s, when the views of the Enlightenment began to take hold, and Alchemy started to be seen as superstitious and un-scientific. Real interest in the subject did not take hold again until the 1930’s, with the popularity of Jung and other preliminary psychologists and psychoanalysts. Since then, Alchemy has been a subject of exploration for people on the “fringe”—rock stars, poets, and authors. The rise of the internet has made Alchemy available to the masses, and one would be surprised that there are many wise and knowledgeable people who practice Alchemy today (“200”).
The first theme that Alchemy ties into is the “Life as Fiction” theme. Tarot cards tie in heavily with Alchemy, and participants of tarot believe that their lives are controlled by fate. So, essentially, they are not the authors of their own “story,” nor are they in control of it. Just like the character in Stranger Than Fiction, their lives are being dictated by a higher power. Not only does Alchemy relate to the theme, it also relates to each of the works of fiction that we read in class. Finnegans Wake has the strongest connection—one can find a reference to Alchemy on almost every page. However, we can delve deeper and say that James Joyce himself was a sort of literary alchemist. He fuses different words together, creating a portmanteau—the perfect word, just like an alchemist fusing lead together with something else to produce gold. Shakespeare’s Tempest also has many themes that connect to Alchemy. Alchemists strongly believe that life is an illusion, so by making Prosperus create an illusion, Shakespeare creates a lead character that is, essentially a magician and an alchemist. Eliot’s Four Quartets link to Alchemy because they talk about the process of rebirth and eternal recurrence, two very prominent themes. Of course, The Alchemist is a very alchemical book, because Santiago learns that his treasure was right where he started all along. Lastly, Samuel Beckett replicates Alchemy through his style of writing, because he empties the reader out, and only by emptying out can one achieve perfect purification.
Dolce Domum, “home, sweet home” is an important facet of the alchemical process. Alchemists believed in transmutation, the act of separating different elements apart and putting them back together in another way. Santiago had to go on a journey and returned home different than he was when he left, but he was still the same person. He was still made of the same “elements,” they were just in another pattern. Alchemists took a step forward, believing that the end of things were destined to return where they started. For example, they believed that God was both the beginning and the end of nature (Raedan).
One major component of aforementioned tarot cards is the “Wheel” card. One turning of the wheel represents a complete lifetime, just like one dream represented Herman Mussert’s. The quadrants of the wheel can mean several different things, all Alchemy-related. They represent the alchemical processes, the rotation of the elements (Earth, Fire, Water, and Air), and alchemical materials (Opsopaus). Tarot participants see the Wheel as a complete lifetime that can be 20 minutes or 20 million minutes.
One of the strongest connections that a theme had to Alchemy in our class was the Myth of the Eternal Return. Just from a strictly visual perspective, one of the main symbols in Alchemy is the Ouroboros (the snake eating its tail). The Ouroboros never ends and never begins again—it just keeps going, like Finnegans Wake. Jung used the Ouroboros to explain the collective unconscious, because he said he saw the figure in his dreams long before he knew what it was.
One of the primary beliefs of Alchemy is reincarnation—the ultimate version of the Myth of the Eternal Return. However, they did not believe that people were reincarnated into another person or animal, like many eastern religions believe, but into a certain “electro-psychic” being. The base of this belief lies in nature. Since nature constantly rebirths itself, it makes perfect sense that we may also. As Samael Weor, a modern alchemist, explains, “All heavenly bodies return to their initial point, the days return, the nights return, the four seasons return: spring, summer, fall, and winter […] Hence, the law of eternal return is something indisputable, irrefutable, and unarguable” (Weor).
However, the theme we studied that was ripped right out of Alchemy is the Life as Illusion and Dream theme. Alchemists believe that our entire existence is made up of a series of illusions. Time, in particular, was believed to be an illusion. “The Master,” or, in our case, Dr. Sexson or the author of whatever book we are reading, is the one who orchestrates this time-illusion (Almine).
Carl Jung, who came up in class several times, was perhaps the most famous of all modern alchemists. He believed that he was the reincarnation of an alchemist of the Middle Ages. Jung thought that by mastering the illusion of life and time would lead to understanding the past, all current knowledge, and the future. He also thought getting to know one’s subconscious would lead to a “metamorphoses of the psyche”—purification (“Jung”). Jung also kept track of every one of his dreams and the “visions” he said he had so that he could use them to understand real life, which alchemists believe is just a different type of dream. Jung had recurring dreams with two characters; an old man and a little girl. The old man was who he would ask important questions and who he would approach to get advice for important items and problems in his life. The little girl became his companion. He named her Anima (Boeree).
Alchemy was the last thing I expected to learn this semester. But those are the best classes; the ones where you really learn something that interests you that you never thought you would be interested in. But perhaps I already took this class, in a past life, or in the past cycle of my own life. Perhaps some Higher Power made me take it or that the whole semester has really only been a class period long – a 50-minute lifetime. Maybe the whole thing was just a dream, or maybe I’ve gone through my journey and am ready to go home. Whatever the case, I have learned much, been emptied out and filled up by great literature, either lowbrow or highbrow. After all, in the words of Carl Jung himself (and I have a feeling Eliot would agree), “A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.”
Works Cited
Boeree, George. “Introduction to C.G. Jung.” Jung WebBiography I. 1997.
Weor, Samael Aun. “20: Law of the Eternal Return: Gnostic Teachings.” Alchemy Lab. 27 November 2009.
Almine. “The Alchemy of the One.” Academy of Alchemy. 1 January 2010.
Raedan, James. “A Short Catechism of Alchemy.” Al-Kemi. 2004.
Opsopaus, John “X. Fortuna – Tuche – Fortune.” 23 June 2000.
“Jung and Alchemy” Carl Jung Resources. 2009.
“200 BC – 2010: A Timeline.”
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