Nigredo: One Stop on the Mystic's Highway

"Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasures."

~ Rilke ~

In the midst of my grief yesterday morning, I prayed for guidance and pulled Andrew Harvey's book, Dialogues with a Modern Mystic from my book shelf. I "just happened" to open it to the section on Grief and the New Therapy and to a section called Nigredo. Here is the passage that caught my attention:

"Coming to know and harness the chaotic energy of our dragon involves the acceptance of a long and grueling process. As the alchemists taught us, many descents into the dark, what they call nigredo, and repeated burnings away, what they call calcinatio, of what is inessential, is necessary to this exploration."

Nigredo is sometimes called darker than the darkest of the dark and the deepest of despair. In this place the soul becomes lost, disoriented...meandering in the wilderness, confused, separated. Relief washes over me as I begin to read more about nigredo and the seven stages of alchemy. I have been experiencing unimaginable levels of grief, despair and disorientation -- wondering if I am becoming enlightened or losing my mind ;-). Maybe they are one in the same. I have had the feeling of my soul being lost...my life purpose and direction out of sight...walking in the labyrinth...meandering back and forth, like the Israelites on there way to the promised land...lost in the desert for 40 years.

Yet, after reading about nigredo and the other stages of alchemy I sense a deeper trust and surrender to the process that has taken over my being, my core, my life and my living. I know I am begin asked to let go, to trust life, trust love and trust this Divine Alchemy that is taking place within my Soul.

Here is another excerpt on nigredo that I found online...

In alchemy, one of the symbols of nigredo is the ‘decapitation’, and also the ‘raven’s head’ (caput corvi). Those symbols refer to the dying of the common man, the dying of his inner chaos and doubt because he is unable to find the truth in himself. In one of his works, Hercules cleanses the Augias stables. It is the cleansing of all the impurities in oneself.

Psychologically, nigredo is a process of directing oneself to find self-knowledge. A problem is given full attention and reduced to its core. This is not done so much in an intellectual way, but especially by feeling the emotions. By really going into to it, one causes putrefaction, the decomposition of that in which one had been stuck. The confrontation with the inner reality is often painful, and can lead to depression. But once in the depth of the darkness, with the discovery of the seed of the problem, the seed in the ‘prima materia’, the white light is born (=albedo, whiteness, the next phase). A state of rest arises. Insight into the problem has been gained, it has been worked out emotionally, and knowledge arises on how to handle it in a more positive way and to build a more pure attitude.

I find these 7 stages of alchemy intriguing and I am mapping them to the 7 sacraments and the 7 chakras...another part of my book that I experienced and started writing this summer in retreat called "High Alchemy: The Sacraments of Bliss." Another chapter, another layer has downloaded.

So what? So, I am surrendering to nigredo...I am exhausted and longing for the infusion of love and light that the next phase, albedo will bring. There are so many stories to tell from inside this transformation...so many ways this is manifesting in the inner, in the body and in the outer conditions and relations of my life.

I deeply need to bring my Soul to the Beloved and drink from the bosom of the Mother. I will crawl into the womb of the soul tonight...into the Cosmic Mother Mary and rest and restore.

Keep watch. Keep watch and pray.

I am forever grateful for my Beloved Friends, my co-journeyers on the mystic's highway.

I love you all!

Anakha

P.S. I request a Full Return and Restoration to this Natural Radiance and Original Innocence!

Shannon Coman, 1 year, 7 months

"Original Innocence, Natural Radiance"