November’s female archetype: The Alchemist, the one who transforms
Encountering the female archetypes, an initiatory journey to connect with one’s changing cyclical feminine nature. November’s female archetype: The Alchemist, the one who transforms.
The Alchemist has several names: the Witch, the Queen of Death, the Magician or the Enchantress.
She lives in the heart of autumn and accompanies us in the darkness of this season. Wrapped in a dark veil and surrounded by mystery, she plunges us into the darkness of the longest nights of the year. She is the guardian of death and of nature as it falls asleep for the passage of winter.
The Alchemist is a magician
She communicates with the mysterious worlds with ease. She is very good at rituals and ceremonies. Attracted by the divinatory arts, she has a talent for fortune-telling, palmistry, astrology, etc. She is clairvoyant and clairaudient. She perceives the subtle worlds, recognises the signs and messages addressed to her.
The Alchemist walks through the darkness
She is ready to go down into her depths to meet her darker areas. She knows that every inner journey is a source of liberation. She turns on the light in the dark to look at what we don’t want to find there. She confronts her fears. She goes through the discomfort. She does not shy away from dark energies.
The Alchemist is not afraid of death
Our soul goes through several cycles of life and death. The Alchemist assists us in this journey. She invites us to lay ourselves bare to accept to change our skin.
She helps us to deconstruct in order to better rebuild. She savors the end of every cycle. She sorts, composts and lets die the aspects of ourselves that no longer have a place in our lives. She knows that death is the birth of something else. Like a door to be crossed to access a different reality, sometimes more adjusted.
The Alchemist transforms and leads us through the fire
She reigns over all the transformations that take place in our lives. Like the trees that transform into fire in autumn, she burns in her cauldron all that must be transmuted. She uses our sufferings and wounds as sacred ingredients to alchemise our being and increase our self-knowledge. She teaches us the alchemy of the soul.
When she judges that the time for our transformation has arrived, she throws us into the fire! For this she is fearsome and frightening, although we know in our hearts that she is just and compassionate.
The Alchemist accompanies our mourning
She stands at the threshold of the initiatory fires of our lives (mourning, loss, separation, illness, death). She is the guardian of the rites of passage. She understands suffering and teaches us to go through it with grace.
No matter how difficult the stages of life may be on our path, the Alchemist stands by our side with a lantern in hand to encourage us to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She carries the messages of the dead and delivers the spiritual meaning of life’s great lessons.
Here are some questions for you to reflect on alone or with your family:
- How do you perceive death? Are you afraid of it?
- What is it time to put to death in your life?
- What aspects of yourself need to be composted?
- Are there things you have lost or people who have left you that you have not fully grieved?
- How have the major stages of your life (bereavement, loss, separation, death) enabled you to rebuild yourself?
- What aspects of yourself are you trying to hide?
- Are you afraid of the dark? Of the night? Of the esoteric? Do you practice a divinatory art? Which one?
Excerpt from the book Femme Prêtresse, Editions Leduc 2021
The Alchemist appears at difficult moments in your life. She accompanies you through the trials, the stages and the great upheavals. She familiarises you with your shadow so that you are no longer afraid of the darkness. She is the one to call upon when the night is dark and long. She will use her magic to lead you to the other side of the tunnel.
