Using the following search engine syntax, 1)+alchemical +kundalini yields over 10,000 hits - many exploring the relationship between kundalini, alchemy and kabbalah 2) +alchemical +kundalini +transformation yields almost 2,000 hits and 3) +alchemical +kundalini +transformation +calcinatio narrows it down quickly to only 7 hits, the first one by Iona Miller as cited below:

quote:

Edinger lists seven operations which seem to typify the major transformations of the alchemical process. These include: calcinatio, solutio, coagulatio, sublimatio, mortificatio, separatio, and coniunctio. Other major operations include nigredo, albedo, rubedo, solificatio, multiplicatio, projectio, separatio, circulatio, and more.

We can detail the nature of each of these operations later. For now, it is enough to grasp the overview which is best stated by Jung , himself, in Mysterium Coniunctionis : ...the alchemist saw the essence of his art in separation and analysis [solve or solutio] on the one hand and synthesis and consolidation [coagula or coagulatio] on the other. For him there was first of all an initial state in which opposite tendencies or forces were in conflict; secondly, there was the great question of a procedure which would be capable of bringing the hostile elements and qualities, once they were separated, back to unity again. Introduction to Alchemy in Jungian Psychology

I have mentioned, on occasion, in this forum and elsewhere, the book, The Fires of Desire: Erotic Energies and the Spiritual Quest by by Fredrica R. Halligan, John J. Shea (Editor) and Frederica R. Halligan (Editor). It is best summarized in the editorial reviews from Library Journal: This is a collection of nine essays (plus an introduction) from a 1991 Jungian psychology and theology conference on libidinal energy and its contribution to the spiritual journey. The essays delineate a path from the psychological to the mystical through a transformation of bodily energy into spiritual energy.

I recently re-read the book and was once again struck by its treatment of kundalini from a Jungian perspective, serving as a great complement to Phil's book on kundalini. In the re-reading, it brought my memories of my own experiences with energy upheavals into a more vivid recollection, so many of the stories and anecdotes, clinical and otherwise, literally jumping off the page at me. Such books can serve to overcome some of the isolation one experiences in the wake of such phenomena, to better contextualize them within the journey of transformation and to best integrate them into one's personal individuation. Stanislov Grof's writings serve the same end, especially within the context of spiritual emergencies and emergences.

I thought I would share some of Halligan's observations on calcinatio, solutio, coagulatio, sublimatio, mortificatio, separatio, and coniunctio.

1) Calcinatio corresponds to Jung's primitive shadow , and refers to the fire hidden within matter, corresponding to libido .

2) Solutio corresponds to what Freud called the experience of oceanic oneness. Halligan writes: In solution, one form disappears and a new form emerges. As the Jungians so often discover, when new wisdom arises with the appearance of the Self, the ego suffers from feelings of defeat.

3) Coagulatio corresponds to the strengthening of the ego-self axis and refers to a return to earth, akin to a Franciscan spirituality and a mysticism grounded in the ordinary.

4) Sublimatio corresponds to ascension where the encounter with the Divine is accompanied by a return to earth to share wisdom or serve others (circulatio).

5) Mortificatio corresponds to the death of childhood innocence and a glimpse ahead at the Philosopher's Stone, the reconciler of opposites. It is served through the humiliating process of facing defeat, frustration of desire, tragedy, suffering, torture and death.

6) Separatio corresponds to the clear articulation of pairs of opposites, a differentiation that must occur before final integration. The libido gets disattached through a long process of self-knowledge, self-control and differentiation and the realization that within each of us all potentials reside vis a vis pairs of opposites.

7) Conjunctio corresponds to the union of opposites. The lesser conjunctio has to do with the fusion of objects that have not been thoroughly differentiated, and thus gets followed by another mortificatio and recycling through earlier stages. The greater conjunctio is, of course, the magnum opus of unitive consciousness, awareness of essential oneness with the Divine. Here is the emergence of the inner self and what Jung refers to as inner wholeness .

I am impressed by this distinction between the lesser and greater conjunctio, especially since, for so many of us on the journey, notwithstanding our arousals and awakenings, there is that spiral dynamic of recycling different aspects of our body, soul and spirit, a sense of always journeying but never quite arriving.

Very interestingly, though, Halligan refers to six levels of unitive processes:

1) The conjunctio of inner wholeness.
2) The mystical union of two people.
3) A group of people working cooperatively (Arieti's creativogenic society) .
4) Union of all members of the human species (Teilhard's Omega Point) in a gradual shift to cosmic consciousness, recognizing that unification is more than a potential, that unification is. I have often put it: When we awaken to our solidarity, compassion will ensue.
5) The fifth aspect is the coming together of various God images, for instance, such that when we work to alleviate all human suffering and to save the earth, we are united with the feminine dimension of the Deity.
6) The mystical union with the Divine and the bliss of abiding in Divine Love.

We can see in the above paradigm some of the elements of alchemy, of the kabbalah, of kundalini awakening, of the chakra system, of sanjuanist formative spirituality, including the dark nights of sense and spirit.

The above info, presented at a conference at Fordham, and other considerations like it, do not seem too widely treated. It spoke so directly to my own experiences, however, that I thought I'd recommend Halligan et al's works again.

As East meets West, Jungian perspectives can serve as a lingua franca for formative spirituality and for better understanding the efficacies of different spiritual technologies , which can very much be doctrinally neutral.

pax,
jb

See this thread for an explication of paradox, of reconciliation of opposites, of reason & intuition, etc as related to conjunctio and the alchemical paradigm of formative spirituality.