Seven Stages of Alchemy

I was struggling to think of one word summaries for each of the parts and chapters of the book. For the third part I considered the word sublimation. A quick search on the Internet for its alchemical meaning and discovered that some consider it the sixth phase, stage or operation of seven on the journey “to liberate the soul from its attachment to matter” (Thomas Ellison, 2021). So far so good.

Seven Stages

I don’t have seven parts to my book (thank goodness)! However, merging some of the seven they fall very nicely into five;

1. Calcination – Prologue – burning away preconceived notions;
2 & 3. Dissolution & Separation – Part I – freeing & separating the whole into parts;
4. & 5. Conjunction & Fermentation – Part II – conjoining and rebirth;
6. Sublimation or Distillation – Part III – union of love and wisdom;
7. Coagulation – Epilogue – healing.

References

• user_dd (2022) *Alchemy Phase 6: Sublimation* Spirit in Transition: https://www.spiritintransition.com/alchemy-phase-6-sublimation/
• Thomas Ellison (2021) *The Seven Stages of Spiritual Alchemy and What They Mean*, The Collector: https://www.thecollector.com/spiritual-alchemy-occult/
• Ohio Alchemy Guild (2021) *The Seven Operations of Alchemy*: https://www.alchemyguildohio.org/seven-operations-of-alchemy