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Wellness and Healing
at the Alchemical Fire Circle

We are not healed by others -
we work to bring and maintain a state of wellness.
Others may guide us in discovering a path
or perspective which enables this,
but we are the ones who do the work.

We are all responsible for our own experiences. As adult individuals, we take response-ability for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves. In the Sacred Fire Circle, we're mindful of people's personal space, and do our best to respect other's boundaries. We honor the skills and gifts that each one of us brings, and our shared goal is to honor and empower each other to become our highest, healthiest visions.

Alchemy, Dark and Light

The Alchemical Fire Circle is a process based on ancient and modern principles of personal transformation. Many of the metaphors we use at our Fire Circles are related to Alchemy and the tools with which we transform lead into gold.

Metaphorically, lead can be compared to emotional and physical heaviness, endarkenment, ignorance and self-absorption. When we talk about "lead", we're referring to the issues that drag us down, our fears, doubts, insecurities, self-deception, the pain that keeps us from opening our hearts, creative blocks, difficult decisions, childhood hurts that didn't get healed, etc.

Gold corresponds with enlightenment, illumination, self-awareness and sovereignty. When we talk about "gold", we're referring to the open heart, unfettered creativity, healthy connection to others and to Spirit, skillful expression, clarity, honesty, artistry, loving communication, presence, authenticity, wholeness, and deep integration of body and mind.

The Alchemical Fire Circle as a Personal Wellness Practice

The Fire Circle is a microcosm for the macrocosm of our existence, and, therefore, any core issue or challenge we encounter in our daily life will inevitably be activated and echoed within the vessel of the Alchemical Circle. As we encounter and sometimes collide with these issues or challenges at the Fire, it is our ability to negotiate the situation inside the Circle, while remaining engaged in the process, which affords us the prospect and probability of returning to a daily life where these matters no longer activate us. The magic we co-create in the sacred container, through sustained engagement, ripples out exponentially into the rest of our lives, for the highest good. Though it can be challenging to stay fully committed to the creative process from midnight, or earlier, until after sunrise, it is specifically this kind of initiatory, inventive ordeal, virtually unheard of in our culture, that furnishes us with the utmost opportunity for personal and collective growth

How Best to Remain Engaged, Even in the Midst of Emotional Challenges?

We've found that when inner resistance, creative blocks or difficult thoughts and feelings arise, there are several ways to stay engaged. We make it a point to keep moving in the planetary orbit appropriate to the issue at hand. For example, if a person is working on moving through a feeling or concern related to clear communication, they might find it useful to move in the Mercury orbit, while speaking out loud, to the Fire. Or, a person who wishes to move through a relationship challenge might find it helpful to dance in the Venus orbit, using the motion of their dance to pull pain from their heart and offer it to the Fire. Or, a person seeking to know what their life purpose is, could stand on the perimeter of the Mars orbit and focus their attention on the dancers moving in the inner dance tracks, seeking a sign or signal that would give them an idea of what direction to take.
Another useful approach is to "take it to the fire.” Sometimes it can be helpful to visualize where in our bodies we're feeling a blockage, and to dance or move from that place. Many people have found that emotion can be moved and released through vocalization, or making sound without words. Another useful tool is to write about whatever is going on, and then burn the paper in the Fire. Also, sometimes people will burn objects in the Fire which are symbolic or representative of what they want to release.

Serving Others at the Fire

At our Fire Circles, every one of us is on the "Wellness Team," and we are all empowered to be healers for ourselves and those around us. We give care to each other, responding authentically as we are guided to in the moment, trusting the process of alchemical transmutation. Although the journey may be uncomfortable at times, the Work is effective. Sometimes, a simple hug or just being present with someone while they move through their process is enough.
In the 1960's, when Dr. Carl Rogers was reflecting on the encounter groups he had created as an alternative to traditional psychotherapy, he said that he was most impressed by the extraordinary healing abilities of ordinary people. Presented with honest expression and given the opportunity to be helpful, people will often rise to the occasion, empathizing and providing skillful intuitive support for the emotional and psychological needs of others. Rogers believed that we are each our own best experts and that we are naturally predisposed to strive towards greater wellness.

Special Situations and Personal Support

Please respect personal space boundaries. We refrain from touching, or speaking to a person deep in their process, unless she or he explicitly invites it.
At our events, there are trained, licensed medical professionals on site at all times. These nurses and/or doctors have the authority to make any and all medical decisions regarding the health and safety of all gathering participants. There is always at least one medical professional accessible by cell phone or walkie talkie at all times. We request that all participants familiarize themselves with the medical professional on-duty and are informed about emergency procedures. Please bring any personal medical or first-aid supplies you may need, such as band-aids, ibuprofen, sunscreen, etc, and remember to drink plenty of water.

Further Thoughts on Wellness

The Alchemical Fire Circle is a melting pot of all the world's magickal traditions. It is our vision to create a container that can embrace and encompass diverse spiritual traditions and paths. The Alchemical Fire Circle model is a personal growth modality, focused on transformational evolution, looking honestly at our issues, seeing what our lead is and turning it into gold.

We achieve this transformation by staying engaged in a creative ordeal, stretching past boundaries and limitations by taking risks through creative expression, witnessed and supported by a compassionate community. Anyone who wishes to engage in the alchemical process of transforming their own personal lead to gold is welcome.

We are all healers; we are all healing. We are all dancers, singers, drummers and servers too. At the Alchemical Fire Circle, we're moving away from old paradigm healing metaphors of "healer" and "patient." We are moving toward a self- and spirit-empowered state in which we are all transmuting our lead to gold, with the insight and encouragement of trusted friends. In the Alchemical Fire Circle, we are all response-able for our own experience, and witnessed in a compassionate, loving community. Our gatherings are designed and based around Alchemical language, symbols and metaphors. It is our intention to bring our vision for community wellness into alignment with these symbols and metaphors.

One understanding of Alchemy is that it is a personal practice in which one works with one's "lead" and endeavors to turn it to "gold." Whether the "lead" being referred to is one's personal past, relationship issues, creative process or spiritual goals, the focus is one in which the individual IS the practitioner. In the Alchemical Fire Circle, we're working with our own specific language and symbol set. The biggest difference is that alchemy is not done to you by someone else. The Alchemical Fire Circle is a place where we can each come and work our own unique personal magicks AND be in collaborative creation together.

"Popping and dropping" is old terminology that came out of an old lexicon related to experiences at past fires. This mode of expression, where a person dances themselves into a place where they can no longer control their body, drops to the ground, and is carried away and tended to by one or more "healers," also leads to designated "healer/facilitators" getting burned out or overworked, by taking on other people's response-ability. We want to encourage the use of less explosive terminology than "popping," such as "opening," (as in heart or soul opening) or "releasing," (real -ease). These are gentle terms that do not predispose a celebrant to exploding or throwing themselves on the ground and rolling in the dirt.

As the Alchemical Fire Circle continues to evolve, there is an increased focus on wellness, artful offerings, refined musical inspiration and heart connections.

Does this mean we do not embrace tears and fears, shaking and screams of personal darkness? No! There are many ways to "work your personal lead" at the Alchemical Fire Circle. You do not need to be, or pretend to be "golden" or "in your gold" all the time. We actively encourage celebrants to transmute their lead, to calcinate, go into their dark places, their nigredo, and embrace the shadow... and to do their own work and to do so at their own pace.

We honor our human ability to heal and assist others to heal. We are happy to support others' good intentions and healing abilities, but not at the risk of our personal and legal liability.

What we're moving toward:

1) *Individual and collective response-ability
2) *Every one of us is a healer
3) *The individual is empowered to be the source of their own transformation
4) *The circle provides a container of safe, supportive, and mindfully responsive witnesses

What we are asking people to move away from:

1) *Any behavior that encourages someone to spin out to such a degree that they could not remain responsible for their own mental, emotional or physical state
2) *Uninvited laying on of hands
3) *Doing "extractions" (from the Merriam-Webster dictionary: the action of pulling or taking out forcibly) or "exorcisms" (from the Merriam-Webster dictionary: the expulsion of an evil spirit from a person or place) in the Alchemical Fire Circle
4) *Setting up architecture in or around the circle which formalizes or validates any particular healing modality

The Caduceus

One of the primary symbol structures of the Western Hermetic Tradition which permeates our Alchemical work is the Caduceus. It also is one of the symbols associated with healing and the medical profession. The caduceus is the staff of the Greek god Hermes, also called Mercury. The link between Hermes and his caduceus and medicine seems to have arisen through Hermes' links with alchemy. To learn more about this connection, look at http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html

By the end of the sixteenth century, the study of Alchemy included not only medicine and pharmaceuticals but also chemistry, mining and metallurgy. According to some, the caduceus was originally a tool used to induce both healing and dreaming in the temples of ancient Egypt. Throughout time, this symbol has been found in many other cultures.

The Caduceus is a symbol of balance and wellness. The staff represents the spinal column and the ball at the top represents the brain. The serpents represent the balance of opposing forces, similar to the Yin-Yang symbol. The Caduceus emphasizes that the supreme state of strength and self-control (and consequently of health) can be achieved both on the lower plane of the instincts (symbolized by the serpents) and on the higher level of the spirit (represented by the wings). The wings on the Caduceus are symbolic of the liberation of consciousness from the warp and weave of dual systems, once it moves up the staff between the serpents and further, beyond their reach.

Esoterically, the Caduceus exists within every human being. Through the conscious process of Alchemy, we explore our interior world by activating and purifying our subtle energy centers. These centers, called "chakras" in Eastern esoteric texts, are symbolized in the Western Hermetic tradition as seven different metals. Each of these has a correspondence to the seven visible planets in our solar system, which also correspond to specific alchemical processes, related to various issues or possibilities, which are explained in detail in the Universal Fire Circle Alchemy article.

We can imagine that we have a caduceus inside of us. This "medical staff," or magic wand, is a useful tool to guide us upon our journey from endarkenment to enlightenment. The journey begins in the lowest centers of the body, moving up through the different energy centers, rising toward the crown. These different archetypes help us express in words and in images our often-elusive inner states of consciousness.

An example of how to use your internal Caduceus while engaged at the Fire Circle would be to imagine the two serpents moving up through the core of your body, entwining as they go, and looking out through your eyes. What would you would see if you looked out through their eyes; how might you perceive things differently? If you are feeling blocked or tight in one area of your body, you might imagine the serpents eating the blockage and moving up, assisting you in your journey. You can experiment with breathing up from the ground or your root chakra and into the serpents as they rise.

Paracelsus, the great physician and Alchemist said: "The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician. Therefore the physician must start from nature, with an open mind." Abraham Maslow, psychologist and philosopher reminds us that one "can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can we act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness." Finally, let us remember that the concept of total wellness recognizes that our every thought, word, and behavior affects our greater health and well-being. And we, in turn, are affected not only emotionally but also physically and spiritually. We are all on this journey of transformation together, growing toward wellness as one. We are all here to help each other in the journey, to guide and inspire, to teach and to learn. May we continue to melt away the lead and dross that separates our hearts from embracing the sacred in each other, and to grow in our magick together.

Moment by moment, let our thoughts, words, and deeds move us toward an optimum state of wellness as we become our highest visions.