Our altar with paintings of the alchemical process, a figure of a refugee created by group member Helen, and gifts from the natural world (as well as our loyal long eared companions)
Last month, students of Wild Wisdom School reunited on a stunning autumnal morning in the vessel that has held our journey and now continues into year 3. Our theme, aptly so, was alchemy. At the heart of Wild Wisdom School is the intention to restore the sacred marriage that has become divorced in our dualistic culture. The fragmentation has divorced masculine from feminine, spirit from matter, rational from intuitive; one typically being favoured over the other. To those seeking only the mind of reason, alchemy is the primitive forerunner of chemistry, however to others seeking a more integrated path, chemistry is a bereft fragmentation of alchemy. In alchemy the rational mind is in union with the intuitive, and matter in union with spirit. Alchemy, from the Arabic ‘al kimia’ (which translates as the art of the black soil) is the art of inner and outer transformation.
The talking stone that carries the prima materia through the sharings of the group…
…and flowers of blossoming life
We experienced alchemy through meditation, history, imagination, reflection and creativity. Through the portal of history we travelled back to its roots in Ancient Egypt, through to its presence in culture today. Unlike other parts of our western heritage, we didn’t have to dig deep for the voice of the feminine since it is already very strong with many of the famous alchemists being women, including Maria Hebraea (or Maria the Jewess) who created the Bain Marie, an apparatus for distillation still used prolifically in labs today. Through the portal of the imagination we delved into our own experience of transformation and with this memory moved through the 4 stages of the alchemical process guided by Sam.
The following is a reflection from Christine:
The sacred task suggested by Sam of reflecting on a recent transformative experience before our day together was for me the perfect first step into this alchemical journey. Seeking the Green Lion in this quiet and reflective way allowed me to discard the expected and discover (yet again) the extraordinary in the ordinary. So rather than an apparently much more dramatic transformative experience, I found myself sitting beneath ‘my’ Ash tree on the hill over the course of the past year, as seasons changed and bare branches and black buds slowly turned to feathery green – and my sense of connectedness at a time of sometimes dramatic disconnection (personally and in the world).
Blanket of mist rising as the earth woke up that morning
Leaf and cobweb in the morning dew
The significant insight for me was in acknowledging the irreplaceable role of separation in the journey towards integration, but this only becoming material for the alchemical vessel when the will is there to see it with honesty. Only when we step out of the running, when we stop deceiving ourselves and instead opt for truth, regardless of how ugly the truth is, can things begin to change.
Last week the US got a new president in the form of Donald Trump. At first, I was in total disbelief, I looked at all those who voted for him with disdain, and I feared for our future. However, standing within the field of alchemy I feel a different response brewing. Trump represents something very ugly to me, but he also represents a yearning for truth. I still fear our future, and I feel very uncomfortable about such a person in the most powerful seat in the human world. However, I also feel a sense of something bigger, perhaps a vessel holding the darkness that we seem to have fully stepped into now. Knowing the process of transformation as alchemy lays out, and also from my own experience of transformation, I can feel a sense of trust that the powers of alchemy are at play. Alchemy is a process uncontrollable by human hands. What we can do is to create conditions, to tune our spirits, and to surrender ourselves to the movement. Control and certainty are the very things that prevent transformation.
Through this journey into alchemy, which began in our Wild Wisdom weekend together, I have started to see that the Universe itself is the ultimate alchemical vessel, and transformation through life, death and rebirth is its primal dance. Humans cannot choreograph the dance, but we can learn the moves, and through the willingness to participate and the strength to surrender control, we can learn to dance well.
Knowing the process of alchemy, knowing this fundamental process within life, I trust the darkness will give way to light.
We started today with our practice of self-reflection; travelling back to the last time we met, checking in with where we’re at today, and imagining ahead to the story of ‘The Loathly Lady’. Within the rich and varied world of King Arthur, The Loathly Lady is one mythic motif amongst countless others, and it is our doorway into the imagination today. Before meeting the hag in the story to whom the story owes its name, we looked towards the ‘loathly’ aspects of ourselves; areas of our character and our life that are perhaps neglected and calling for our love and attention. We also asked ourselves at the beginning of our day together, ‘what is it that I need from today?’. There was a common theme of needing to feel connected, needing soul friendship, needing community and needing to feel that we belong. As beautiful as it can be at times, soul work can also bring loneliness as the soul invites us into decisions that sometimes sever relationships, or draws us down paths that are distant to that of others. There was acknowledgement and deep appreciation for the community that we feel amongst ourselves in our Wild Wisdom School, and how essential this is for each of our unique but interconnected soul journeys.
Our wider community in the garden of Wild Wisdom School
Moving into the story itself, we followed Arthur’s quest to discover the answer to a question given to him in threat of his land and ruling. The question was this… “what is it that women most desire?” After asking many women and receiving as many answers, he finally receives the one true answer from a hag – ‘the loathly lady’ – who asks for the marriage hand of one of his treasured knights in return. Arthur accepts and offers her Gawain, and then receives her answer which is this… what women most desire is the freedom to make their own choices, their own power, their own sovereignty.
This is a story I have heard a few times now since I arrived in the storied land of Devon. The first time was during a pilgrimage on the moors that I took with my fellow students at Schumacher College as we began our exit from the college and into the world. Martin Shaw came to visit us one evening and brought with him this story. Being with many non-native English speakers, the most prominent question after the telling was ‘what does sovereignty mean?’. Interestingly, I actually had this same question in my head too but I felt stupid asking. I knew what it meant on a political or societal level, but it is less familiar on an individual level, and I see now requires an unravelling of meaning. In our Wild Wisdom study pot, we unravelled the idea of what sovereignty really means, leading to us asking ourselves “What is my sovereignty? And what do I have that I can share in the service of all beings?”
Moreover, within the many layers of meaning and symbol of the Loathly Lady, the hag is often seen to represent the land. When she asks Arthur for one of his knights in marriage, she is also asking ‘are you willing to serve the land?’. When Gawain marries the hag she becomes beautiful for one half of the day because a spell she was under is half broken in the act of marriage. She asks him – would you prefer me beautiful by day and ugly by night, or ugly by day and beautiful by night? Gawain passes the question back to the hag, and in doing so grants her the freedom to choose her own path, her own sovereignty, and the spell is broken completely. I feel this is such a significant story for our times, both in relation to women and to the land we depend upon. It grants voice to the previously silenced, and empowers us into relationship rather than dominion.
We ended our day in ceremony, which we co-created and weaved together from the various strands that had emerged since the morning. And we sung:
Our group of seven gathered at Sam’s where we sat in the garden, in beautiful May sunshine, sharing a birthday breakfast with Beth.
Such a lovely space. We were tempted to chuck our plans away and stay there all day, but the high moors were calling and so we set off towards Merrivale which was the first point on our little pilgrimage.
When we arrived at the Bronze Age site of Merrivale, we gathered our thoughts and turned them, with love, towards the members of our Wild Wisdom community who were not present with us. Then we allowed our thoughts and feelings to roam back in time to a wider community: our forebears and the ancestors of the land around us.
Stone row at Merrivale
As we walked quietly along the stone rows, I wondered what they had been created for, what rituals and ceremonies had taken place there, and I saw myself walking beside one of the women of pre-history in silent contemplation of the land around and the mystery of the eternal cycles of life of which the land speaks to us.
We offered a libation and brief meditation to honour the place then walked slowly back via the stone circle towards our cars.
The next point in our pilgrimage was to return fully to the here and now, acknowledge the rumbling tums and find a suitable spot for a picnic lunch. This was a glorious spot by the river near Hexworthy and, as ever, our bring and share efforts turned into a perfect feast. Over lunch, Clare told us a short but intriguing local story about a midwife whose encounter with the faerie folk leaves her with only one eye – but an eye that sees with faerie vision. It had echoes of the previous day’s story of The Loathly Lady who in Sam’s wonderful telling also had one eye. We had an interesting conversation about this: the one eyed hag who sees everything as one……….
Restored by our rest and repast we carried on up the road to the beautiful little chapel of St. Raphael. We had decided over lunch to make this the last point in our pilgrimage, so that we could spend some spacious time there, and what a good decision that turned out to be!
Believed to be the only church or chapel in the country to be dedicated to St. Raphael, it is a very special place. I felt that the simplicity and stillness allowed for something much bigger to be present there and also that we were very welcome. The few “decorations” were beautifully appropriate, including a rich icon of Raphael and two beautiful arrangements of fresh wild flowers.
We sat in a circle, lit some incense and listened to the story of Raphael and Tobias, told by Helen. It is a wonderful mini-novella from the book of Tobit and it touches on many themes including companionship, trust, protection and healing – all very resonant for our community and our pilgrimage. Then we sang a gentle Jewish chant which invoked four of the archangels, and it was a lovely ending to our day.
The places we visited all had their own magic, but I am reminded yet again how much more potent it can be when shared in community. Images and feelings are with me even now; I am glad that I was able to be part of the day and I look forward to future community days. It is, for me, a crucial and enriching part of the Wild Widsom we are exploring.
This was a glorious spot by the river near Hexworthy and, as ever, our bring and share efforts turned into a perfect feast. 
Over lunch, Clare told us a short but intriguing local story about a midwife whose encounter with the faerie folk leaves her with only one eye – but an eye that sees with faerie vision. It had echoes of the previous day’s story of The Loathly Lady who in Sam’s wonderful telling also had one eye. We had an interesting conversation about this: the one eyed hag who sees everything as one……….
