The Alchemy of Christmas
a deeper look at a familiar story
For many of us Christmas is a time of family, giving, and eating and drinking waaaay to much. With symbols such as Santa, the Christmas Tree, and maybe even the Nativity Scene. Even if we look past the capitalist nature of how we celebrate Christmas in modern times, there are few moments in our modern calendar where we are encouraged to pause and be present to family.
Yet, the Christmas story is inherently a religious one; it’s a story of realignment back to our Soul. If you can look beyond a surface (and questionably historic) reading there is a deep mythic quality to the nativity.
It speaks to us about the nature of creation and creativity.
So here, in this post, I bring to you some initial thoughts about the connection between Alchemy, Manifestation, and Christmas.
The concept of manifestation is becoming more popular, and less relegated to the corners of New Age thinking. I’m sure most people have heard of the term Law of Attraction. The basic premise is that I can create the life I want by thinking thoughts inline with the desired end result. If I want wealth, I consciously choose to think thoughts such as I am wealthy, I enjoy experiencing wealth etc. By only accepting certain thoughts, they are made manifest in the material world; the physical riches are the manifestation (revelation) of my thoughts. Pretty simple, yeah?
The law of attraction has its roots in the tradition of Alchemy who most will associate with the quest to turn lead into gold. Indeed, that was the goal of some ancient alchemists. Yet, the greater goal of alchemy was to transmute the lead of our ego and conditioned personality into the gold of the divine nature; the Higher Self. It was primarily concerned with the transformation and perfection of the Soul with the creation of material success being the practice and byproduct of the Higher aim.
Within the philosophy of alchemy different aspects of the creative process are broken down into Feminine and Masculine principles.
The Conscious mind= the Masculine, active principle
The Subconscious mind= the Feminine, receptive/passive principle.
In the crudest of terms, the feminine subconscious mind is seen as the receptive womb of creation, and the masculine conscious mind is seen as the active phallus, seeding the subconscious with its desires.
In most discussion on the mechanics of creating (the term I prefer to manifestation), an individual chooses a particular end result that they desire. They then engage in various rituals or mental practices in order to consciously plant the idea into the subconscious. With enough persistence, the subconscious will accept the idea and begin rearranging our lives to express the idea in physical form; it will manifest the thought in your daily life. This is a “by me” life (Jim Dethmer) and a particular path to personal mastery, when not driven by unmet needs hidden by the egoic personality.
However, within that Christmas story, a deeper tradition is hidden amongst the familiar. It is the story of Mary, Jesus, and the Virgin birth, where “God” (Original Creativity, the Soul of the World) finds within you the perfect condition to birth something new for humanity.
It is the “Through-Me” life spoken of by Jim Dethmer, where our own creative power is not limited to conjuring health and riches for us as individuals, but where the very Spirit of Creation moves through us to bring healing and liberation to the world, often involving the upheaval of established social ways of being.
Here, Mary represents the Virgin (pure) subconscious that is ready to partner with the Divine to birth something new in the world. As the story goes, Mary (the subconscious) is visited by an angel.
The term angel comes from the Greek angelos which means messenger. They are always viewed as spiritual beings existing in some higher or subtle realm. These messengers always come in a dream, a vision, through the imagination to announce the will of God (once again: Original Creativity, Divinity, The Soul of the World).
Mary, our pure subconscious, receives a message through her imaginal faculties that she will give birth to a son whose nature and name will be to bring wholeness (Jesus, from Yeshua, meaning “God saves”).
It is interesting to note that it seems that Mary is visited as she goes about her day, and not in a dream (during sleep). She has direct contact.
Now a womb can’t create a life in and of itself, it must be impregnated by another source. Mary, upon initially hearing this idea, cannot fathom how such a thing could be accomplished through her. She is told that the Creative Spirit will overshadow her; she will be surrounded and infused with creative energy and light. Mary responds with receptive willingness, “I am your servant…may it be done to me…” and we are later told that she treasured and pondered the ideas in her heart.
This gives us two insights; often the initial glimpses of what the Soul of the World wants to do through us is beyond our own conception (see what I did there?) and we cannot think of how it will be achieved naturally. Secondly, our role is not to figure it out, but to be willing and meditate upon the vision; to stay immersed in the creative brilliance that is now dwelling within us.
Joseph, in this reading of the story, represents our ordinary waking, conscious state. In the normal way of creating, Joseph would impregnate Mary and a child would be born. However, Joseph recognizes that Mary has new life growing in her that is not of his doing; he is not the originator of the idea. What is growing in Mary, from Josephs limited perspective is a bastard that will cause social disgrace to both Mary and himself.
You can imagine Mary trying to convince Joseph that what was growing in her was beyond him or any other natural source; that it was the Idea of Creative Spirit. Joseph can’t accept this, it doesn’t make sense. The story says that Joseph went to divorce Mary and distance himself for her. We try and deny the emerging life in us; it feels foreign, unusual, and unlike us. We also do not want to bear the responsibility of raising the Christ; an idea or mission that often asks a lot more of us than we could have ever consciously imagined for ourselves.
Here we again see the importance of the imaginal, intuitive realm in assisting us in the creative process. Joseph falls asleep and has a dream; he enters the realm of the subconscious and encounters a messenger who encourages him to not fear and to partner with the Spirit. When Joseph awakens, he chooses to follow through with the information obtained through his intuitive faculties. He marries (unites) himself to Mary (the subconscious) and does not “consummate” the marriage; he releases his own desires and protects the growing life in Mary.
We then have two accounts of groups of people recognizing that something new and divine is emerging; that a new order of things has come.
The Shepherds are out watching their flocks at night when angels appear and announce that Christ has been born. represent the ordinary, simple individual who is intune with the natural order of things. Not relying on educated learning, the shepherd is the soul that has maintained the innocence of their connection to nature (represented by the flocks of sheep). They watch at night, the time of the subconscious. They are watching for emerges in the darkness; and are met with visions of angelos that declare that the intention of the Spirit made manifest through Mary is for peace and wellbeing of others.
The Magi (often referred to as the Three Wise Men) are the second group. The magi represent spiritual perception. Most likely astrologers and priests from pagan nations, they follow a star shining in the darkness that leads them to Christ. They represent the soul that seeks the will of the Divine and follows the light (the star) that guides them through the darkness (the unknown), to what it is they desire.
The Magi, in their quest to discover the Christ, the fulfillment of desire, consult with King Herod. Herod was a Jewish king installed by the Roman Empire to rule over the region. The Magi announce to him that they are seeking the King of Jews, a title and position already occupied by Herod. He feigns devotion to the Christ-Child, but only seeks to commandeer it and ultimately destroy it.
Herod represents what Walter Brueggemann would refer to as the consciousness of Empire. This is the established political-societal order and way of thinking. It is the worldly shadow, the collective ego, the old order of things that resists the emergence of a new order that will replace it. Herod represents the resistance towards the birth of the Divine Idea that is often encountered in the world.
Once again, Joseph and the Magi (the conscious and spiritually perceptive mind) are instructed by messages received in dreams on how to outwit the Empire and protect the Christ-Idea whilst in its infancy. Being open to guidance in the form of dreams, visions, or other forms of intuition are necessary in the creative process, particularly as you navigate inevitable resistance.
All of this leads to the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus represents what happens when we allow the Creative Spirit to work in and through us. He is the Idea of the Divine made flesh; embodied creativity, manifest divinity, dwelling amongst us. As the more mystical St John says, the Christ life was “the light of every human. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
For those of us familiar with the story, Christ brings radical new understandings, he heals the sick, frees people from demons, challenges religious and political authority, serves the poor, disrupts the social order of things, leaving a legacy that impacts the world 2000+ years later. This is the work of the Creative Spirit embodied through humanity, a process we are invited to participate in and change the world around us.
The Christmas story, originally set during the darkest time of the year, is an invitation for us to consciously turn inward to intuitive, imaginal realm and to discover that we are all with Child. That the Christmas Spirit has overshadowed you and filled you with dreams and visions that are crucial for the saving work that is being done in the world. It is invitation to partner with the Ideas treasured in your heart and to be a light shining in the darkness.
In my next post, I will look at the song of Mary (the Magnificat) and my favourite carol, O Holy Night and look more deeply at the relationship between intuition, the arts, and social justice.
