the need for masculine consciousness to reach soul embodiment
The three (of four) phases of the magnum opus: nigredo, albedo and rubedo. (from Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, published by Georges Aurach in 1475) (Citrinitas is missing in this picture.)
I sit on the deck of a space ship. Initially this was just a normal flight on an airplane. After a long period of meditation and inner work, I am flying to Brazil to start some work in the world. But the captain explains to me what most passengers don’t know: What seems to be a normal flight, is actually a secret mission to find something. Then some alien figures appear, the airplane turns into the before mentioned space ship. I sit on deck next to the captain, as a sudden premonition, an inner vision, appears to me: what we seek will arrive to me now. Then a crow arrives and drops two rings next to me. I pick them up and put both rings on my fingers. One is small, a red stone sparkling in an ethereal unworldly manner, surrounded by delicate silver ornaments. The other ring is much bigger and flashier, a large red crystal, but devoid of energy. The captain looks at both rings and recognizes the value of the small ring. We have succeeded in the mission.
This was the final episode of a long sequence of dreams I had last night. Upon contemplation the sequence revealed a development, which clearly symbolized the process of individuation, with hidden alchemical themes. The prior dreams of the sequence contained the confrontation and integration of the shadow, and the start of a new journey, which culminated with the dream on the spaceship. This “space travel” symbolizes the journey into transpersonal realms. At first it appears to be a normal flight on an airplane. This is the uninitiated point of view: just a normal flight from one country to another to start a new job. But the initiated know, that beyond the appearance of our goals and activities in life, we are looking for something which is not from this ephemeral world. To the ignorant life is just a series of events, yet in a hidden way, we are actually seeking to discover our innermost being.
“All outer events in life are in a way only similes ; they are only parables of an inner process, synchronistic symbolisations. You have to look at them from that angle to understand and integrate them, that would be spiritualizing the physical.”
To discover our true nature, we must let ourselves be guided by our inner visions and intuitions, and we need to develop the discriminating power to know the difference between what has value and what not. What is of the spirit and what of the ego. We need to chose, and with each choice, we are either getting closer to realizing our true Self, or we are getting more entangled in illusion.
In the dream, the discriminating power of my consciousness, my inner man, is symbolized by the captain. He initiates and guides me through the process, and in the decisive moment of the two rings appearing, he discerns the one of value. The flashy but worthless rings can be likened to the ego, which seeks outer success and riches. The smaller but otherworldly ring symbolizes the real treasure, the Self. The red color symbolizes the RUBEDO phase in alchemy, where the soul unifies with its essence. The false self can mimic this process, thus creating a spiritual ego (the red flashy ring). That’s why we need the help of the masculine discerning consciousness, to know what is true (eternal) from false (ephemeral).*
the stages of alchemical transformation or
the stages of transformation of human consciousness
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The dark night of the Soul - Ego dissolution - Shadow confrontation
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purification of the psyche - shadow integration - danger for spiritual bypassing (mistaking one enlightening experience for the whole transformation)
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awakening of higher consciousness - solar masculine principle - guiding action and responsibility
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sacred marriage, union of opposites - full integration of the Self - balance, wholeness, divine embodiment (Jivanmukta in Yoga)
This sequence of dreams symbolizes stages of an inner transformation, an alchemical process within my consciousness. But it is a process that needs to be engaged with to take roots. Even though I remembered these dreams very vividly upon waking and felt their importance, I noticed my habitual mind, ready to put the veils of forgetfulness and scattering. If I wouldn’t have caught myself in that moment, I would have just started my daily activities without giving the dreams further attention, probably forgetting them within the hour.
Following my inner guidance, I sat down to engage with them, writing them down, researching the meaning of different components, reflecting… and feeling the inspiration to write this article. In this way I feel the reality that expressed itself through the dreams now also working upon my waking consciousness, leading to a deeper state of awareness, integration and embodiment.
And through this process I realized the answer to a question that I have pondered for many years: What is the difference between someone who has wonderful states in meditations, but a very chaotic life, and someone who lives a life of meaning and purpose, reflecting their inner states and realizations?
I realized that spiritual transformation is not just about our practice, it is not just about the beautiful states and visions that appear in our inner world. There is an important second component: OUR CHOICES AND ACTIONS IN DAILY LIFE.
To bring forth what is within us, we need to ACT on our inner revelations. Our inner being only reflects into the manifested world, if we let our actions and choices be guided by the Self. We need to let spirit work upon matter. Otherwise it remains a disconnected reality, not reaching the full embodied realization, the Rubedo stage in alchemy.
This realization also came to me in another form recently. I was doing my first retreat in complete darkness for three days. It had it’s challenging moments, but most of the time I felt immensely happy, immersed in a parallel subtle dimension of unconditional love, having many deep meditations and revelations. Counter to my prior worries, I was not afraid of the dark at all - paradoxically the first moment of fear only appeared when I came back to light… when all the implications of the states and guidance I received dawned on my “normal” self. I was scared to act on these revelations, questioning their validity, being overcome by doubt and anxiety.
But then I made a firm inner choice: I will act on each and every revelation I had; I will not let them slip into a fleeting experience; I will not go back to my old habits! And with each step I took to put this choice into practice, I noticed that the anxiety and doubts vanished. In their place an inner state of centering, peace, and detachment appeared. I started to feel the reality of my “retreat-self” taking roots and manifesting into my “everyday life-self”.
What is it, that gives us the power to chose and to act, what gives us the power to discriminate between our different impulses? It is the solar consciousness, which needs to be realized in the Citrinitas phase. In the prior stages we only perceive lunar reflections of this consciousness and we remain in the realm of the personal self, albeit spiritualized. The full transpersonal realization and union of opposites can only appear, if we also realize the pure masculine consciousness.
“It is the silver or moon condition, which still has to be raised to the sun condition. The albedo is, so to speak, the day break, but not till the rubedo is it sunrise. The transition to the rubedo is formed by the citrinitas, though this, as we have said, was omitted later”
Many people reach the moon condition, which is the awakening of the soul. In this stage, we are present in the here and now, transcending the mind, feeling love and unity. But this is not the full spiritual liberation. We need to reach the solar consciousness. In alchemy this stage is called Citrinitas - the realization of pure consciousness and being guided by the solar, masculine, discriminating principle. The omission of the Citrinitas by late alchemists shows a certain ignorance that is present in Western Esotericism. Even Jung believed that the experience of the transcendent Self could only be experienced indirectly through dreams and visions, but never directly. Interestingly he also felt a resistance towards visiting Yogis in India, as he confessed in his autobiography. Jung interpreted the states of pure consciousness of the advanced Yogis as a return to the collective unconscious, but actually these states are situated in what Roberto Assagioli would call the higher unconscious and the Transpersonal Self. Jung remains an inspiring pioneer in the realm of the soul, albeit limited. Here Assagioli reflected upon Jungs limitations:
“Lack of clarity, uncertainty, confusion between the various aspects and levels of the unconscious; lack of a real spiritual experience and therefore a nebulous and defective conception of spirit; lack of any social aspect or inter-individual psychosynthesis; lack of any understanding of the role of action in psychosynthesis and lack of appreciation and utilization of the will and therefore of discipline, form and self-restraint.”
These limitations are exactly what arises if we remain in the dimension of lunar consciousness, without sufficiently awakening solar consciousness. In the moon condition, we are reflecting the light of higher consciousness, but a certain ignorance still remains. Without the integrated action, full responsibility, and restraint of lower tendencies, we easily get lost in the maze of subjective feelings.
WE NEED THE SOLAR MASCULINE CONSCIOUSNESS TO REACH FULL SOUL EMBODIMENT
When we open up to our inner reality, many impressions come to us. We need solar consciousness to discern, to act, to manifest our will, to overcome fears, to guide us through the maze of “my truth” and subjective experience, into the realm of objective truth and transpersonal reality. The neglect of this aspect leads to many misguided seekers developing spiritual narcissism and inflated egos. Before we act, we need to discriminate. It is too easy to mistake our subconscious ego tendencies for profound soul wisdom. Only the light of masculine consciousness, the discriminating power, can bring the clarity and integrity to the raw material of our inner life.
And the more we let this power act upon us, the closer we get to the state of union, integrity, and embodiment of our real being.
*In this article I speak of masculine/solar and feminine/lunar consciousness in an archetypal way, independent of physical gender. The process I described is equally valid and necessary for men and women, albeit with different nuances. In future articles I will explore these nuances.
Sources:
Psychology & Alchemy - C.G. Jung, 1944
Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology - Marie-Louise von Franz, 1981
Memories, Dreams, Reflections - C.G. Jung, 1962
Roberto Assagioli and Carl Gustav Jung, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 46:1, pp. 7-34 - Rosselli & Vanni, 2014