Some Sol Alchemy Jazz

So, there are four major types of colors in the Western School of Alchemy and Arcana, related to creating the ‘great work’ or the ‘magnum opus’. These are referred to as stages, those being;

1. Nigredo (blackening) -related to shadow, death, and dissolution or the abyss
2. Albedo (Whitening) -related to purification, illumination, and
3. Citrinitas (Yellowing) -related to awakening, starting, or initial actualization
4. Rubedo (Reddening) -related to completion, finality, or Philosopher’s stone

If we were to use a forest, as an analogy;

There are four seasons that relate to the four stages. Winter relates to Death and lifelessness, Spring relates to illumination and purification (hence spring cleaning), and the summer days are full of a yellow sun relating to Citrinitas, then the trees have leaves that turn green to yellow/red and fall in finality or completion of the cycle, symbolizing the Rubedo. All before winter starts the process over again.

if we were to take a step back and look at a further time line, You might find a pile of dirt or soil that is black and fertile for new growth. perhaps this soil is full of death or decay or is a wasteland, this is the Nigredo. This wasteland is actually prime for fungi and bacteria to start new life, as the decomposers decompose, they purify the land, this is the Albedo. Then the seeds take purchase in the land and grow starting the initial actualization of a forest, the Citrinitas. After a while the forest may grow robust and big before catching a catastrophic calamity, like a wild fire or a volcano or a meteor, and burn in a blaze of red (They can also die different ways like flooding, or insects, or humans, or other reasons that aren’t ‘red’, but the idea stands). The Reddening happens before turning back into black soil to start the process over again.

This is of course, broadly and generally speaking. The descriptions above are me sort of spinning this idea of the four stages to help paint a very simple -(and maybe crude to other alchemists that disagree)- process of the four stages as they go from nothing to something back to nothing once more.

Also, to note, not all stages are guaranteed. Things can end before they finish. People quit or accidents happen or other works get in the way of these works. Things happen. -To also further note, things don’t necessarily happen in a sequential manner, consider the Alchemical Opus process as a model, and some exceptions apply for ‘skipping’ stages. Perhaps it’s a limitation of our perception, and things appear like they’re skipping stages, perhaps. . .

And in this, these relate to the Sol, or the Sun.

As a side note, the word ‘soul’ does not etymologically relate to the Soul, but it does have a charming coincidence with how the soul and sol work. We have terms for a blackened soul as well as a bright white ‘pure’ soul.

So the Sol using these four colors we get four sols;

1. Black Sun – Sol Niger
2. White Sun – Sol Albedo
3. Yellow (or gold) Sun – Sol Citrinitas
4. Red Sun – Sol Rubedo

Each sun or sol has a specific meaning and does specific things.

As a side note; The Nazi’s and their occult history leveraged a lot of black sun imagery and symbolism for their occult practices. I’m not well read on why or what their aims are in the occult realm, but I imagine it’s probably very out there. There’s a lot of nuance to the idea of the black sun, and I think it best to not be discarded simply for having a relation with Nazis, the same with the spiral swastika. Those symbols are very powerful, and should be further studied.

The Life Cycle of a star

Cosmology has different stages of stars, and they aren’t exactly aligned perfectly with the alchemical colors, but the process is still relatively applicable in a repeating pattern.

This is a general and rough depiction of the life cycle of a star;

1. There’s a giant glass cloud or nebulae
2. The Gas Cloud forms together to form a Proto Star
3. This enters the T-Tauri Phase, shedding off natal gas to form it’s residual star
4. The residual star remaining in place forms a Main Sequence star (Starts Nuclear Fusion)
5. The Star expands to a Red Giant
6. The Red Giant fuses to be too big and then diverges into a implosion/collapse
7. The collapse may cause a supernova and may form a planetary nebula
8. After the (possible) supernova settles, it condenses into a
   White Dwarf star
   or Neutron Star
9. The White Dwarf Star turns into a Black Dwarf Star
   The Neutron Star turns into a Black Hole
10. More theoretical jazz happens afterwards

Note that step 7 or 8 creates another gas nebula, as well as step 3 sheds natal gas. This gas can theoretically form the starting sequence of another star if it melts together. Of course, all of the above are based on my limited understanding of cosmology.

Each of these Star stages has an element of the four stages of the alchemical process.

From a broad perspective, you can reason that the initial Nebulae could be any of the four stages.

The Main Sequence Star, our sun, is considered a yellowing process in some perspectives. You can also see it as the final form of a star to sustain our life or humans, as a sort of Rubedo. The Sun being our own philosopher’s stone for life on Earth as some scientists claim it has the ideal conditions. Additionally the Sun is symbolic to the albedo process in a sense of cleansing flame or order or ‘good’ as determined by our dominant patriarchal sun cult worshipping religions.

The Red Giant could signify the red Rubedo stage as one day our Sun might turn into a Red Star (assuming nothing happens to it before it ages naturally). Thus our Sun could become big and red as it sees the twilight era of life on Earth, the completion. Perhaps Earth will become red like mars and we’ll have an Earth Rubedo Stage before the Sun reaches their Rubedo Stage of being a Red Giant.

The Collapse and supernova could be viewed as the death of our star as well as our solar system. You could reason that this death or change is a Negredo, or that it’s purification as it cleanses our realm of life, being an Albedo.

If you were to associate the colors, you can reason that the White Dwarf Star and Neutron Star are Albedo processes that end in a Negredo process of a Black Dwarf or Black hole. From a mere color perspective.

What I’m saying is, there are four stages in Western Alchemy, and it applies to the Sol or Sun with specific implications, and it also can be broadly used to describe various processes in the universe to include the seasons, lifecycles, and even star cycles. All of which, hinge on the subjective perspective of contextual information.

It’s funny, words and meaning is contextual, so are the labels and metaphors we use to model our world, whether it’s in alchemy or not. Models are contextual as well, they’re like tools, use an accurate one and it’s akin to using the right tool for the right job.

I personally

Like Eastern Alchemy too, so I find solace in combinational knowledge and logic with Daoism and Eastern Alchemy. Western Alchemy tends to focus on Khemia and Egypt and the Egyptian Gods and Ra and that sort of jazz. I like Eastern because it seems so distinct and separate like a fantasy land in comparison, but it also parallels the West in many ways. Turns out, the truth is something that can be said in different ways.

As such, I focus on two sols, the Black Sun and the White Sun. It is simply represented in the dance between order and chaos, of light and darkness, of the Sun and Moon, the Yang and the Yin.

When we combine the ideas of Albedo and Negredo with yin and yang, we get an interesting dance between two suns of life and death. Of purification and corruption. While also noting that the qualities of eachother are reflected in their insides by the dots within the spirals.

You can further combine this idea of yin and yang to include Jungian Shadow Work. The Conscious observer or mind being the light, while the subconscious and shadow aspects being the dark.

As the black spiral can corrupt the white, the white can purify the black. It’s a dance of duality and they both justify and presuppose or imply the existence of the other.

As a side note, there are other forms of the yin and yang to include three or four colors, so it could be more apt or inclusive to the other stages of the western alchemical process. Worth looking into trigrams and tetragrams. Additionally, you can dive deeper into the idea of this yin and yang with the relation to the black sun, as the tiny black dot is found within the white spiral. Meaning the essence of the black sun is within the desire or motivation or existence of anything good or righteous.

Epilogue

I just went on all sorts of tangents and detours talking about Alchemy in the West and East and relating it to Sun or Sols.

All of this is one leg to stand on, and if you add a few more legs, you get a framework of standing, that you could reasonably stand under. An understanding, ba dum tsss.

You don’t have to agree with All nor any of this, consider it subliminal messaging in the universe as a sort of undercurrent that you may tap into if you feel it has the truths you’re aligned with or seeking. It’ll be here for you to tap into later, *while supplies last (internet and civilization pending).

In any case, I connect dots between many reference points and esoteric traditions. I’m not a formal member of any of these clubs, I don’t have a costco card, but I do practice my own jazz in my own jazzy time (and sometimes I borrow costco cards from family members). So I’m a hedge wizard in a sense. And I do embrace the pick-and-choose nu-age spirituality of religious and philosophical syncretism as a personalized and democratized form of religion. It’s not for everyone, but it seems to work well for me.

Your perspective is valid, so let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree or simply gree.

Words Mean Things