A blog about crystals, energy cultivation and lifestyle balance …
Crystal Alchemy 101 – Part 1
by Eric Justin of OneOriginStarseed
The Roots of Ancient Alchemical Practices
In ancient times, post advent of mastery over fire, humans discovered that when different substances were combined or when a substance was subjected to certain conditions, a specific transformation or outcome could be predicted and controlled. These were the roots of the alchemical understanding that would eventually evolve into our modern sciences such as chemistry, engineering, allopathy and so on.
At first, humans feared life and felt subjugated by it. The magic of life was plentiful, but we all too often lived a life that was way out of our control. Enter ancient alchemy… In the natural attempt to gain mastery over our environment, ancient alchemy began to take root in civilizations all around the globe. In places such as ancient India, China, Egypt, Europe and the Muslim world, people began by trying to transform base metals and other substances into elixirs, potions, medicines and materials that could enhance our daily lives, improve our quality of living, cure diseases, perform magic and even to help us succeed in the quest for immortality. Slowly by trial and error, our knowledge and understanding evolved by leaps and bounds and we rapidly gained an increasing mastery over our environment. The byproduct of humanity’s alchemical pursuits has given birth to the miracle of modern living that we enjoy today.
External Alchemy vs. Internal Alchemy
The origins of ancient alchemy were at first strictly by external application. The crude use of fire and other rough physical materials led to an evolution of practice and achievement through trial and error. Refinement is one of the great principles of both alchemy and of life itself. The concept of taking that which is impure and making it pure. Taking that which is rough and making it refined. Taking that which is dangerous and making it safe. Taking that which is useless and making it useful. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Whereas the ancient alchemical practices of the west focused largely on external alchemy, the alchemy of the East evolved a deeper understanding of Internal Alchemy. The same concept of external alchemical refinement and transformation could be applied to the internal energies of body, mind and spirit, creating possibilities of spiritual life while in a physical body, far greater than anyone had ever even dreamt of. The epicenter of the evolution of Internal Alchemy was without a doubt in India, and from there it spread to China and then further.
Originally, advanced ancient civilizations seeking to achieve immortality, practiced the ancient forms of External Alchemy seeking to produce an elixir with which one could achieve eternal life while in the physical body. The understanding of life as a vast ocean of the interplay of differing states and forms of energy led to the understanding of the tangible and non-tangible. Both are forms of energy with the physical being looked at as the cruder and more unrefined.
As above, so is below (heaven and Earth) or, as what is external, so is internal. The cycles of natures were understood as a reflection of the very same processes which occur within the body. The link between thought and reality, as well as the transformation of a solid to a liquid to a gas, contributed to the evolution of our understanding of the difference between the physical and the spiritual. The ancient original science of Indian yoga which has its source over 15,000 years ago, can be looked at as the mother of the original science of Internal Alchemy.
Herbal Alchemy and the Understanding of Energy
Eating and drinking are the fundamental activity undertaken to sustain a physical body on this planet. It is the main goal of the majority of the forms of life here. Food and drink mean survival, and without them longevity is usually short. Hence, the survival of the fittest was the primitive mode of living for the vast majority of species here for thousands of years. Those who obtained food and water could sustain and extend their physical life, while those that didn’t, soon returned to spirit. This is the story that runs through our DNA.
Once humans evolved to a certain level and stabilized our ways of life through civilization, food and water became more readily available. When our basic survival needs were fulfilled, this made room for the development of art, music, medicine, sciences, technology and so on. Observation of the food we ate and the refinement of our eating practices, led to the discovery that food is medicine. A deep relationship took root with the plant life which converted sunlight into a readily available source of energy and helped sustain our existence.
Discovering the healing properties and life enhancing benefits of plant life, caused us to dive deeper into their usage and to develop detailed systems of medicine and herbology. It was no longer the goal to just obtain food, fill our stomachs, digest, excrete and repeat. We found that many food sources needed a degree of preparation or cooking to derive the most benefit from them. In addition, the amount we ate as well as the frequency and the combinations of different edibles, all had a big impact on the effect of their consumption. After thousands of years of refinement, we were slowly realizing that the building blocks of our physical reality could be manipulated, changed or altered with the proper preparation and application of external substances.
All life is energy from the unmanifest to the manifest. Our physical body and everything in our lives also is energy, so understanding the ways in which that energy forms and flows means increasing our ability to control and alter conditions in our body and in our external environment. The further this understanding progresses, the greater the level of freedom we have in our physical existence. A developed state of consciousness which recognizes this and practices it, is indeed practicing alchemy.
The Alchemical Bridge Between Internal and External Alchemy
Herbs were perhaps the first commonly employed alchemical bridge between the physical and non-physical. By ingesting and concocting combinations of herbs and herbal formulas we learned how to cure diseases, enhance our health and longevity as well as improve many aspects of our day to day lives. The very blueprint of modern medicine is rooted in the chemical map studied, copied and reproduced from those found in plants, fruits and natural organic substances. Herbal alchemy is an awesome way to balance, transform and manipulate various states of physical energy, and still proves effective and useful to this day.
Herbal substances embody the Earth energy that they arose from and took root in. It is this same Earth energy that is vital to us when trying to balance the life of our spirit in our physical body. The energy of the Earth is the original vibration and nonphysical blueprint or source of our physical existence. This is why plants, vegetables, fruits and the like are so valuable not only for sustaining our lives and health but for helping take us to higher and higher levels of experience. All are coded with Earth energy.
The usefulness of Herbal alchemy cannot be overstated. But with that being said, there are drawbacks to relying solely on Herbal alchemy. One major drawback is the fact that we need to obtain these materials over and over again from nature, and once we use them, we need to go back and get more. Certain plants and vegetation life are not available year-round or on certain parts of the planet. Even with our best efforts, our herbal supplies can spoil, go bad, lose their effectiveness with age or even become contaminated. Nowadays, herbal products have become quite popular for the maintenance of health and lifestyle enhancement, and are at times a bit expensive, making them unavailable to many who cannot afford them.
The Parallels Between Herbal and Crystal Alchemy
While we may never be able to substitute the exact function and specific efficacy that many herbs and plants offer us in our daily lives, there are similar sources of Earth energy that we can use for health, life quality enhancement and spiritual development. A source of Earth energy that does not require the consistent cultivation of seed, water, sunlight and soil. An alchemical medium that has run parallel to the implementation and practice of herbal alchemy, yet need not be constantly replenished, nor does it spoil, become old, or lose its efficacy (in most cases anyway).
Upon examination of many ancient cultures across the globe, we can clearly see similar patterns of alchemical evolution taking place. When it comes to shamanic healing, spiritual practices, human evolution and the development of advanced civilizations, aside from herbal and plant usage, there is another common element consistently present that appears to have served as a catalyst for change: crystals and gemstones. The practice of crystal alchemy has often been seen running parallel to herbal alchemy in many cultures across the globe since ancient times. This can be seen in tribal and shamanic traditions even to this day, where they employ a combination of both herbal and crystal alchemy in their medicine and spiritual practices.
Although we may be tempted to make claims that one form of alchemy has preceded the other, or that one is superior to the other, that would simply be a waste of energy. Instead, lets appreciate the contribution both has made and continues to make in our understanding of the preservation and advancement of physical life. In addition to this, recognizing how both have opened gateways that provide access to the exploration of the spiritual dimensions of existence, as well as helping elevate human consciousness to higher states of being.
Continued in Part II . . .
Hey everyone… My Name is Eric Justin… I started this blog as a way to help clarify many misunderstandings and misperceptions which have formed around the use of crystals. I aim to promote their positive life-empowering potential in an honest and straightforward way. In addition, I am here to help promote ancient practices of energy cultivation, which can be used by all people to help establish balance and stability in their unending life journey of self-discovery and self-mastery.
Disclaimer – This blog is presented as is, for informational purposes only. We do our very best to provide honest, accurate, clear and concise knowledge based on our own experiences, reliable sources of modern crystal usage as well as traditional uses and even that which comes from history and legend. Any information we provide is to be used by our readers and customers in a responsible manner and at their own risk. By reading this blog, purchasing our crystals or practicing any of the methods we provide, each reader and customer accepts responsibility and risk for their own actions and automatically is bound to our terms and conditions. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions Section.
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