Lambspring 🔮
Everyday Alchemy
Plate 5.
A wolf and the dog are in the land
This phase is start of Solutio. The end result being the unification of the spirit and soul. The Active Animus and the artistic Anima seen here still fighting like dogs. All symbols carry a personal and transpersonal aspect in their archetypes. The transcendent symbol of the Anima may show up in the mythic forms of the great mother, Sacred Sophia or The Divine Isis. The spiritual aspects of the masculine animus may take the form of a king, a Shaman, a wizard, a reverend.
All roads lead to Rome. In regards to plate 5, there is a Roman saying that states “man is a wolf to man”. Ain’t that the truth. The wolf depicted here symbolizes the Spirit, manifesting through Soul. The only casualty of this war will be the dead weight we call Dogma. Mans best friend. Through the first phases of this alchemical process, one found themselves coming into awareness of the pathological processes of their own psyche. By using the back and forth of our bicameral mind, survival of the fittest is found in regards to our beliefs. We all carry around our consumer guarantees for untested concepts we believe. It is an alchemical axion, that only that in which is adequately separated can be joined. Hence, every idea, every dictum, every article of faith must be held to the heat of your higher self.
During this phase of individuation, one may find their subconscious in crisis or conflict. Dreams, belief systems, your interpretation of the information, all may be overturned. The once firm footing you found in faith will quickly become quicksand. Apocalyptic dreams of natural disasters, premonitions or paranoia, even the feeling of impending doom can cause of quite the discomfort. There is a wolf in the wood, be prepared for the evils you are bound to face. The adversary is the symbol of solutio in alchemy. The disciplined ego you have developed thus far is your Courageous companion here. With proper practice, the ego is your dog in this fight. With sufficient self esteem and self knowledge, one can learn to run with wilder things, and rule the wilderness. The previous underdeveloped ego was accustomed to being an active participant. Now forced to fight fair with the subconscious, the ego gains the rapid insight and intuition emerging from the unconscious shadow. The rate of revelations can become overwhelming during Solutio. Make no mistake this flood of mental imagery is the same symptom the criminally insane undergo, yet unable to interpret or integrate.
Reflect again on this image, a wolf and the dog are in the wood.
The aspiring alchemist may feel the one step forward, two steps back sickness of self. Reality got a whole lot wider. More real. The container your old perspective was placed has become cramped. A childish cage of projections and prejudices. One day, we will all come to the realization that reality is built by imagination. This world is only as big as you believe it to be. Or not to be. Everything must seem unbelievable to an atheist. To the alchemist, eternity is ever expanding. Constantly changing. Through initially reducing reality to it’s basic elements, the alchemist is able to understand the creative interplay in this imaginal realm.
Solutio is the dissolution of your old world-view. Healing comes once the ego recognizes The Self as the new center of gravity for the psyche. Use this time to meditate and reflect on the distractions and dissonant desires that urge you off kilter. Proper self analysis will give one insight on the archetypical patterns repeating through their own reality. The Lusting wolf, the Loving Dog. Men and women may feel a push and pull between these polarities, manifesting as the madonna-whore complex. By uniting the dualities of the spirit and soul, eventually you ditch the dogmas of love. The solution of solutio ends when one understands and accepts both polarities. This is achieved with one experiences both the personal and transcendent functions found in duality. Myth becomes meaningful once it is acted out psychically. Creation wears many faces, and will come to you here symbolically as the hermit, the king, the magician, the empress, the tower, the devil.
Just like in the tarot, we are still in the beginning of becoming.
A wolf and the dog are in the wood
