#azoth

Fermentation is the fifth of seven operations in the great work. Fermentation is where the conjunction/amalgam (product of fourth operation) putrefies, it dies. This dying is rich with life, though, compared to the first death experienced in the first two operations. In this operation, the last contaminating influences of the ego, or metals, are purified. The rotting comes to life when it starts to ferment. Spiritually, the essence that is resurrected is imbued from “above”. The alchemist is then blessed with visions, insights, and enlightenment as their essence is being brought back to life by the hands of the Divine. Visual representations depict this process with birds descending into water. In this stage of laboratory alchemy the “peacock’s tail” appears in the solution, signifying the presence of gold in the material. This is the shift in the perception of the alchemist, from the dark night of the soul (putrefaction) the sun eventually rises filling the world with color (peacock’s tail).

REST, SATTVA, SABBAT, SARASVATHI

The universal energy or universal agent has been called by many names from east to west & across the ages: prana, pneuma, shakti, kundalini, chi, Azoth, mana, melamu, caloric; amongst many other words aiming to articulate a tacit understanding of the same ‘no-thing’, that drives change— that connects cause & effect. That is vibration & aliveness itself.

This ‘energy’ is transduced across & between the subtle & physical body & realms, bridging the inner & outer, spirit & matter, the imaginal & the worldly. The unconscious & the conscious.

Where ‘energy’ is itself a western word derived from modern scientific history, speaking to what has existed & been known across the ages universally. It is universal currency & capital. It is with this substance that we create & participate in the world.

The universal substance is primordial, & ever-regenerating itself, through form, through eternal change.

It is the ever-present mystical river Saraswathi, that quenches all desire & longing. When we bathe in this current we are fulfilled, we avail ourselves of grace & measure of peace. With our cup filled we can pass it on to others who thirst for the aqua vita, the soma, the elixir, the elan vital, the waters of life.

As we metabolise & integrate our experiences (our daily bread), this energy is released within as awareness. We expand, we brighten, we feel lighter, borderless & vast. Now we can be the giver, we can serve the body of the world; the Goddess.

The only aspect that ever sleeps is the persona, the thought-stream that is the I-me, or in fact it is cyclically withdrawn, nightly/in seasonal rites of passages.

The body continues to self-regulate, while the I-me thought sleeps or rests.

In the interval of the disappearance of the I-me, the body, the instrument of awareness, reorganises within itself, replenishes & regenerates & when the waking threshold is reached, I-me resurrects to the waking state.

The dream-I or subtle body, travels on the energy winds, or is swept along into dreamscapes, usually unconsciously, but conscious dream & vision can be cultivated.