THE TOOLS OF THE ALCHEMIST
Transmuting darkness into light, discovering more of ourselves, and uncovering the Truth.
 Good day, fellow Alchemists:
In many spiritual circles, people often discuss the limitless nature of the spirit which dwells within us. We imagine the fantastic possibilities that can be accomplished through raising our vibrations to higher levels and expanding our consciousness. After all, once our beliefs are aligned with the infinite self, what then can stop us? But how can it be that, while many of us are on the brink of self-actualization, we still have trouble with simple day-to-day human activities? Something like maintaining a workout schedule or a proper diet shouldn’t be that difficult for limitless beings such as ourselves to undertake. So what is really keeping us from following through on our goals? The answer lies within our ability to trust ourselves. You see Alchemist, self-trust is the fuel our willpower uses to exert itself. Sadly, due to the influences of others and our own shortcomings, this self-trust is chipped away bit by bit through out our lives. And while it is easy to lose self-trust, building it back up can be challenging. Self-trust is lost when you take actions that undermine your will. Instead of following through on a goal you’ve set for yourself, you give up on it when the time comes to act. This is why you need a willpower workout regiment. The following instructions are simple to understand, yet they will have a profound effect on your life. We recommend picking five pointless and easy tasks a day with a set time frame in which to do them, and making sure they are accomplished. It can be anything, like maybe standing on one leg for ten seconds at three o’clock, or lifting a cup from one side of the table to the other in thirty minutes from now. It may sound silly, but there is a good reason for these tasks to be easy and pointless. Any goal you have can at some point be deemed pointless. You can easily convince yourself not to do something, even though you wanted it at an earlier time. By accomplishing pointless tasks, you train your willpower to obey your instructions, regardless of the reasoning behind it. And since the task is easy, you have no excuse not to do it. In time, your words and actions will be one and the same. Eventually, you may even begin to be more careful with your words, since you know they will result in direct action. This will also mean that you have begun to understand yourself better and know what it is you truly want from life. Trust yourself Alchemist, and become powerful. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Counsel  Grand rising, dear Alchemist:
The strangest thing about having a human experience is the trance like acceptance of our inner beliefs, and the stories we tell ourselves to validate those beliefs. It feels as though a narrator exists inside our mind, describing our lives like a movie or a book, in which we are the main character. And as the story carries on, the assumptions about which direction it should take becomes engrained within us, inevitably changing the story to fit the sensible narrative. What we fail to see is how fictitious it all is - the story, its plot, and the meaning we give to it - none of it can be presumed as true, and yet we live according to it. We even begin to limit ourselves because of these stories. The logic behind it simple. Take for example, someone who has never passed a single class in school. Naturally, one would think this person could never become a doctor, since it is an academically orientated goal. While on its face, most of us would probably agree with this statement, however, that does not make it true. We are inclined to accept these kind of stories, not because they make sense, but because they are predictable. Alchemist, if there is one thing the ego loves, it’s predictability. The ego is like our own personal defense machine, or so it claims to be. In reality, the ego is in the business of preserving, strengthening, benefiting, and defending only itself. Once the ego deems something unlikely, it is strengthened by moving in the opposite direction, as to not waste time and energy. The ego of a person who wants to be a doctor but failed in school will pull them away from being a doctor and into something else, simply because the path to becoming a doctor does not strengthen the ego. Therefore, the goal is removed from the egos desires and by proxy, our desires. This process creates a dynamic in which our own sensibility gets the best of us. We become limited only to what we think is possible. The only way to break free from this egoistic alignment is to ignore what is best for the ego; what expands and preserves it should be none of our concern. Listen carefully to your inner voice. It may be trying to tell you something; it wants to remind you of your forgotten passions and dreams. Things you’ve let go of simply for the sake of the ego. Return to who you truly are and watch your egoistic nature fade in the light of your spirit. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Counsel  Good Day, Fellow Alchemists:
Sometimes it seems as though we are moving against the flow of life. As if everything we do requires so much effort on our part that our goals may not be worth reaching. Even if we do everything right - sleep well, eat healthy, meditate - we still find ourselves lacking the necessary energy to undertake our tasks. We eventually are forced to load up on coffee, which only makes us crash later on. Our vibratory frequency is lowered, which slows us down, inevitably making our limited time even more precious. This creates a situation where we end up eating unhealthy meals for the sake of convenience and skipping our regular meditation and exercise practices, which is in fact the only thing keeping us going to begin with. Thus begins a self-destructive cycle of unconscious living that sends us spiraling downwards. But the big question is, what causes this cycle to begin? What is the catalyst for our initial lack of energy? The answer is simple. Our mental state is draining us of all our vital energy. Not only does the brain itself consume over 20% of our bodies energy, it also wastes it on very trivial things. If we were to review every last thought that went on in our heads, odds are that almost all of it would be unnecessary worry. Human beings evolved in order to solve problems and to notice patterns. Our minds are also deeply rooted in social dynamics, and the way others perceive us is deemed highly important for our survival. However, in our modern world, this need for external validation is exacerbated by living in such large scale civilizations. How can we possibly find the energy to do such simple tasks like going for a walk when we have a million other things on our mind that our bodies delegate energy into solving. Luckily, when the problem is simple, so too is the solution. We must reverse the process by erasing our thoughts and returning our intentions into the body. Right now, as you’re reading this, focus on the sensations coming from your body - from you hands and feet, and from your solar plexus and gut. Immerse yourself in the physical and see if a change occurs. It is possible Alchemist, that you might start to feel a surge of energy once the mind is turned off and tuned into the body instead. It is believed that our bodies can endure seven times more strain than our minds will allow us to experience. That means that a well of untapped energy exists within us, but only if we are willing to prioritize the body through thoughtless perception of ourselves. While walking, writing, eating, or even just watching tv, try and bring your focus back into your body as often as you can and you will slowly see a change in your energy levels. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Counsel  Grand rising, dear Alchemist:
It is within the most fleeting moments of thoughtlessness that we sometimes experience the sensation of true happiness. Not happiness in the usual sense of the word - as excitement - but as genuine fulfillment to our core. With our minds emptied of both past and future, we are left with nothing but the present moment. You see Alchemist, our ability to feel joy is often thwarted by our mind. Our mind plays a role of a phantom self which exists only to solve problems and ensure our survival. It overwhelms the true self, which is the observer that is capable of embracing the present moment. By constantly living in either the past or the future, we waste away in the present. In a sense, we are like time travelers who only visit the most brutal of eras. We are addicted to thinking. Most of us spend all day and night worrying, contemplating, planning, and fantasizing about things that aren’t real, since the only thing that is real is the present moment. Getting over the past can be difficult. Especially considering the fact that there is no way to deal with a problem that has already happened. Living in past experiences can often leave us feeling helpless, and reliving them over and over becomes a false coping method, where in our mind believes so strongly that something can still be done to rectify a mistake. However, the greatest trap of all is the belief that your happiness can be found in the future. That some far away, possible scenario will set you free. We put our faith in the future when our present seems bleak. This may give us a momentary feeling of euphoria, which will end abruptly once we meet with a misaligned future or when our plans are delayed further. All the while, the gift of the present has completely eluded us. Instead of hoping for a brighter tomorrow, we should see the treasure that is right before us. The now is filled with bliss. Something as simple as the sensation of having a body can be a joyous experience when brought into our awareness. How many cool breezes have gone by unnoticed? How many days have we spent grieving over time lost? And most importantly, how many more moments are we going to let slip away? Be in the eternal now. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Counsel  Good day, Fellow Alchemists:
Alchemist, there is an endless amount of things that can hurt you in this world but nothing can have as much of a palpable effect on you than the genuine ill intentions of other people. Sadly for us, it is quite abundant. Hate can seep into us deeply, making us physically and emotionally sick. And what’s worse, it’s contagious. As if it were a living organism, negative emotions leap from one person to another, feeding off their energy and will power. We channel our negative energy into others almost instinctively. It is usually the first thing we think of doing once infected by it. What does that mean for us, then? Must we be subjected to an endless cycle of anger and contempt? The answer is...you guessed it! No, obviously. What we are missing in moments of hostility or hatred is the lesson being presented to us. It is an immense opportunity for us to grow spiritually when confronted by negativity. Most people think it’s best to turn away from someone whose sole intention is to hurt you, but a true adept of the spirit will feel no scorn when lashed at. Have you ever wondered why turn the other cheek is such a popular axiom? It is a notion shared by all religions and cultures around the world - to forgive those that hurt you. Forgiveness is like a superpower. Once you have it mastered, you’re invincible. Instead of retaliating against hate, you will be able to see it for what it is - a disease of an unconscious mind. This will free you from identifying with the negative emotions that come at you, which will develop your propensity for compassion. As strong as the need to promulgate the negative feeling to other is, you cannot let your programming control your actions. Rise above the knee-jerk reactions of the ego. Find your true strength through forgiveness and compassion to others. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Counsel  Grand rising, dear Alchemist:
People really like throwing the word ego around in all sorts of situations these days. Usually, ego is used as a way to insult someone. Insinuating that an egoistic person is someone who thinks highly of themselves. Of course, this isn’t true. Some of our most insecure thoughts are deeply rooted in our ego. A better way to understand our egos would be to think of them as programming - a kind of inner network of functions that trigger us to act in certain ways, depending on external stimuli. Someone who is ego-centric will have difficulty seeing through their own programming. They will be limited by the commands set for them through their conditioning and trauma. You may be thinking at this point that the ego is bad for us and we should simply transcend it. However, this wouldn’t be taking the full picture of what the ego is into account. Our minds evolved for millions of years to be the masters of information processing that they are today. The ego is a symptom of our intelligence and is therefore inexorably connected to our conscious mind. And, as we already know, our consciousness is responsible for creating nearly all of our experiences. Luckily for us, the ego is very adaptive. We can pick and choose the kind of programming we want to align ourselves with. If, for example, a part of your programming makes you look at life more optimistically, creating positive expectations which then manifest into reality - obviously keep it. On the other hand, if you notice yourself being triggered by a particular topic or even a single word, it is a sign that there is a tangled mess in your mind that must be cleared away through meditations and healthy self-expression. Follow the pace of your thoughts. Try to notice which thoughts stem from a place of security and which are brought about from feelings of fear or anger. The nexus between our survival minds and our ego is strong. The ego tends to have a bias for building itself around experiences it doesn’t want to have and tries to train us to avoid pain. But sometimes we need to endure pain to overcome something - what’s important is that we can consciously choose to confront that pain without our ego speaking over us. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Council  Good day, Fellow Alchemists:
Beliefs are the building blocks of our reality. They dictate our behavior, our willingness to overcome obstacles, and how we view our own limitations. Yet, isn’t it possible that some of our beliefs are based off biases and muddled perspectives? We put so much faith into the stories we tell ourselves but the fact of it is, most of the things we believe to be true are not based in reality. This has been true of almost all previous beliefs held by people. All we can do is make observations and come to conclusions about the world around us. We’re bound to make some mistakes along the way. However, if our perceptive ability is somehow tainted with an inability to accept something as it actually is, we become unable to see the most simple truths of life. It is for this reason that people meditate on the concept of death - to actualize it into their understanding of life. The same goes for conceptualizing life and seeing how it unfolds. We can pinpoint where we are exactly in the story and follow it through to the end, or possibly redirect it. By not seeing reality for what it is, we can get stuck in situations where we don’t know what we want out of life or what direction to move ourselves in. It can also severely limit us by binding us to a false narrative in which we are powerless or lacking in some aspects. When you find yourself imagining life, think about this phrase that artists use to draw realistic paintings: Draw what you see, not what you think you see. Of course, that’s not to say that imagining what could be isn’t also helpful. Seeing things clearly isn’t about limiting creativity. Rather, it is the exploration of fundamental truths, which usually results in profound self-liberation. Like an artists painting a beautiful scene before their eyes. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Council  Good Day, Fellow Alchemists:
It is believed that our conscious mind is comprised of only a tiny fraction of our full mental experience. Our brains perceive so much information on a day-to-day basis, which our conscious mind deems unimportant or irrelevant to our immediate survival. This could be something as simple as the face of the mailman from your childhood home. You may think you’ve completely forgotten it, yet it remains in the deepest recesses of your mind, which is why random characters seem to appear in your dreams. Either you remember your mailman entirely, or the dream may use his face for a new dream character. This ability for our dreams to use all the information available to us is not limited to memory. Many people believe that dreams are a way to connect with our unconscious selves. And at times, that unconscious self may have messages for us. The result of that communication is our strange, often enigmatic, dream sequences. While the events that occur in our dreams may seem random and at times, just an amalgamation of what happened the day before, there is a very unique language being spoken within them. Our dreams are a language of symbols, or as Carl Jung referred to them, archetypes. Archetypes can be thought of as the pinnacle of human imagination. And that pinnacle usually reaches limits that is collectively shared amongst all people. By having all of our imaginations, more often than not, reaching similarly symbolic conclusions in relation to our thoughts and emotions, a representation is formed. Dreaming of your teeth falling out? For most people this a sign of being self-conscious about ones appearance. Do you find yourself operating a vehicle in a dream, only to lose control at a later point? This usually represents a loss of control in the direction your moving in in your waking life. Crashing planes can mean a fear of failure, climbing a mountain can mean overcoming difficulty - the list goes on and on and covers just about every dream imaginable. If you’d like to get a better grip of the language of dreams, a good way to start would be to find a dream dictionary and begin reading through it. Also, writing down your dreams first thing in the morning will help you remember your dreams better and more vividly. Dream interpreting offers a profound insight into the nature of our own existence, allowing us to understand what we want and need on a much higher level. By bringing awareness into the unconscious aspects of ourselves, we also become less controlled by our shadow, and in a sense, we are psychologically and spiritually liberated. With love and sincerity, The Alchemy by LA Council |