Alchemy was the father (or grandfather, depending on who you ask) to almost all of the modern sciences. Chemistry, geology, thermodynamics, and even physics started somewhere near an alchemist’s lab. It wasn’t just about turning lead into gold, either – that was just a popular myth because it was something that people could relate to. No, it was about enforcing your will on the world around you. It was about empowerment and control.
Now, I could go into a long historical description of key figures, or wax poetic on the philosophical elements – and I probably will, from time to time – but for right now, I want you to know this: Alchemy and Magic are very much alive and well, and they are in greater demand than we’ve seen in centuries.
Millennials are sick of all the shit.
To be fair, not just Millennials. Everyone is. There is no doubt that a major piece of the growing interest in magic, witchcraft, alchemy, and other types of non-normative spiritual practices is that the tools that we are defaulted today are woefully lacking in self-efficacy. If you want something esoteric done, you have to pray to (a) g-d to “grant” you that thing, and if you don’t get it, then it just wasn’t g-d’s will for it to be done. Or you’re just a terrible person who doesn’t deserve it, whichever.
Here’s a fun story that describes what’s really going on:
A bunch of kids are told at various times by a local hobo that if they all leave food out by the big tree stump on the full moon – and if it’s the right kind of food – then a magical fairy will come down and grant them a wish. They all start leaving food out at the stump on full moons along with their wishes, and month after month, not a single kid gets their wish granted. Eventually, they all start talking and realizing that they’ve tried every single food they available to try to appease the fairy, and nothing is working… but doesn’t that hobo look like he’s gaining an awful lot of weight?
Pretty much everyone with a lick of common sense – not just Millennials as a generation – is getting wise to the fat hobos. And there’s a lot of them. The problem isn’t just that there’s a bunch of fat hobos, it’s that there’s a huge pile of wishes that have gone unanswered.
If wishes were horses…
… we’d all be eating steak.
No one makes a wish when they have no desires. No one spends time thinking about things that they don’t need or want. A “wish” is made when the heart lacks something and puts a name on the thing that will make it feel better.
For some people, it’s a new bicycle. For others, it’s a job. For still others, it’s a heart transplant.
Leaving food by the stump under a full moon ain’t doin’ shit – but mowing lawns, improving your education or working for yourself, or starting public campaigns for the money for the surgery does. (Yes, I live in the United States where we have to pay for our own life-saving and even just life-sustaining procedures, at the cost of thousands of dollars. Don’t get me started on that soap box just yet…)
That’s called self-empowerment. Instead of looking outside of yourself for someone to swoop in and save the day, you take matters into your own hands. You don’t sacrifice to some temperamental deity or persnickety forest spirit, you become your own superhero.
How To Be Your Own Magician
When I started Alchemias, the idea was to transform base things into prettier things, mostly focused on recycling trash into useful and durable items. As time has marched on and the idea has evolved, I’ve realized that the most important thing that I can help transform is you.
So, as we move forward, I’m going to share a lot of thoughts and news and ideas that I have about how you are your own best advocate for getting things done. Does that mean that I’m going to side-step the esoteric and bizarre? Oh, gods, no! But, there is a trick for using esoterica in your day-to-day life.
Making your life magical – and making magic in your life – is about how you think, how you accomplish things. It’s about intention, and it’s about knowing that you have no choice but to live in the Now – but you also have to keep an eye on that pesky past and consciously decide on what kind of a future you’re going to arrive in.