Gaia Alchemy: The Reuniting of Science, Psyche, and Soul by Stephan Harding

Author:Stephan Harding [Harding, Stephan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Deep Ecology
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2021-12-21T07:00:00+00:00

The Seven Circles

Refer again to figure 9.1. But now let’s focus our attention on the seven circles located between each of the Azoth mandala’s rays, each of which is linked to one of the seven words we considered in the previous paragraph. The first circle, between the rays of calcination and dissolution, corresponds to the word Visita. The image shows a black bird perching on a human skull, representing the need in calcination to let go of fixed patterns of being in ourselves. In Gaian terms, the image tells us that for Gaia to be healthy all ecological communities must eventually enter their own calcination by letting go of their current state.

In the next circle between the rays of dissolution and separation, the same black bird gazes upon its white counterpart in the dark earth. The word associated with this image is Interiora, suggesting that to transform we must dissolve into the unconscious. This stage is where we’ll find helpful insights and energies required for our development. In Gaia the image hints that many new global ecological configurations are there in the background within her ecological dynamics waiting to come into manifestation if the circumstances are right.

The third circle between separation and conjunction associates with the word Terra and shows two white birds extracting the remains of the black bird from the earth. Psychologically, the white birds represent the coming together of opposites within us. These work together to bring the blackened remains of the previous operations into the next phases of the process. In Gaia the image indicates a situation where new ecological feedbacks have appeared. This involves opposites such as predatory-prey dynamics, as well as relationships between symbiotic partners built on the remains of older dynamical aspects of Gaia’s functioning.

The fourth circle between conjunction and fermentation shows the two white birds lofting a five-pointed crown into the blue vault of the sky. The blackened remains in the previous image have been transformed into the crown, symbolizing the stability of a permanent state of wholeness in ourselves that has been brought about by the union of opposites within us. In the ecological realm this corresponds with the emergence of a new state of globally coherent ecological functioning and thus of healthy planetary self-regulation within the vast body of Gaia. The word Rectificando shows that these new states of being have made things right. They are truly effective for both ourselves and for Gaia.

The next circle, located between fermentation and distillation, shows the two white birds nesting in a tree looking after an egg. The associated word here is Invenies, hinting that a new style of consciousness that needs to be discovered is developing nicely in the egg of our alchemical transformation watched over by the two birds. This represents a harmonious relationship between the opposites. From a Gaian perspective the tree perhaps represents all life on the planet. Perhaps the egg of Gaian consciousness is waiting to hatch at the tip of each branch of the tree, in each of Gaia’s beings, each in their own way.

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