alchemical separatio
Separatio is an essential component throughout all stages of the
opus, but the more aware and conscious we become of our role in
the work the more we need to use our power of discrimination and
discernment to eliminate all non-essentials and to really see what
our priorities are.
We cannot coagulate into a new form of higher spiritual awareness
unless we learn to “separate the subtle from the gross, suavely and
with great ingenuity,” as the Emerald Tablet suggests we do. This
is painful soul work, done under precarious circumstances, with a
wounded, fragile and vulnerable ego. We must learn to analyze and
scrutinize our actions and use the powers of intuition and
discrimination to sift through the psychic rubble and rescue the
fragmented self.
Meditation with the Queen of Swords is an extremely powerful tool
at this stage.
opus, but the more aware and conscious we become of our role in
the work the more we need to use our power of discrimination and
discernment to eliminate all non-essentials and to really see what
our priorities are.
We cannot coagulate into a new form of higher spiritual awareness
unless we learn to “separate the subtle from the gross, suavely and
with great ingenuity,” as the Emerald Tablet suggests we do. This
is painful soul work, done under precarious circumstances, with a
wounded, fragile and vulnerable ego. We must learn to analyze and
scrutinize our actions and use the powers of intuition and
discrimination to sift through the psychic rubble and rescue the
fragmented self.
Meditation with the Queen of Swords is an extremely powerful tool
at this stage.
1909 Pamela Colman Smith image of the Queen of Swords courtesy of Holly Voley