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Noun<\/em><\/p>\n \n I love this word, so much, and it sums up the realm in which I work, well the 2nd<\/sup> understanding does.\u00a0 Daniel Liebermann dedicated a chapter to Alchemy in his book Spellbound<\/em>. \u201cWhen two chemicals react with each other, something occurs that\u2019s different from what we\u2019re used to seeing.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Lieberman is attempting to take us into our unconscious mind. In his book, he warns of some of the dangers of the unconscious mind and our wandering into that space.\u00a0 He goes into projection, meditation and the shadow self, a plethora of great thoughts and information. However, for me, the chapter on Alchemy was drew me into this book.<\/p>\n \n A seemingly magical (<\/em>Spiritual) process of transformation, creation, or combination. Lieberman gives the example of cream being poured into coffee; 2 substances now combined to make something new.<\/p>\n \n In Oxford a group of us went to a bar called \u201cThe Alchemist\u201d where we watched multiple drinks transformed into something new!\u00a0 It was fun, and mostly just bar tricks, but it was Alchemy.\u00a0 I would dare say our Advances are Alchemy for our Doctorates.\u00a0 We could all study and read and gain wisdom from our project faculty, but I dare say it\u2019s the alchemy of our time together for 3 years and our intense times of the Advances that the magical process of transformation.<\/p>\n \n In hospice chaplaincy our world of ministry is learning the art of understanding, diagnosing, and healing spiritual pain, and it doesn\u2019t end there, we also try to help transform spiritual pain[3]<\/a>.\u00a0 Richard Groves started a non-profit that trains all of us on this important task of being present to spiritual pain. In a YouTube interview Lieberman states \u201cIt\u2019s no longer about fighting to survive, we no longer live in that kind of scarcity, so we have to find meaning. We have to choose something that\u2019s hard and involves failure because that is how hard it is, you can\u2019t choose an easy life\u201d.\u00a0 [4]<\/a>\u00a0 We need to find meaning.<\/p>\n In my experience, where we fall short as a culture and as a church (though we talk about it every Easter Sunday) is that we tend to end our pain and suffering with the act of healing.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s actual healing, or prayers answered, or even death.\u00a0 We fall short in the Alchemy of pain.\u00a0 We walk through our suffering we tend to say \u201cphew\u201d that was tough and try to move on.\u00a0 However, we have been alchemized, changed, and shoving down the pain we went through does come back.\u00a0 Groves, and Lieberman would say that the true gift of pain and suffering is transformation.\u00a0 We must look back and process what we just went through and acknowledge how we\u2019ve been changed by what we\u2019ve been through. Alchemy of Spiritual Pain and Grief.<\/p>\n \n Lieberman introduces us to Karl Jung\u2019s interest in two alchemical processes, circulatio and conjunction. \u201cCirculatio is the repeated processing of alchemical ingredients, view as necessary to bring about the desired results.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Lieberman is noting that when we\u2019ve been through a process repeatedly, it leads to growth and transformation.\u00a0 I think of ritual and the act of communion every week is transformative, but perhaps each individual communion participation is not necessarily transformative.\u00a0 It\u2019s the repeated act of participating in the ritual that brings transformation. \u201cOnce we recognize the circulatio <\/em>in our own lives, we can see it in others\u2019 lives as well\u201d.\u00a0 What a powerful call to first work on ourselves, recognize our own growth and then utilize that transformation to empower others to recognize their own alchemy!<\/p>\n \n \u201cConjunctio is the bringing together of opposites, which for Jung was a symbol of individuation.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 I have officiated my fair share of funerals, and supported hundreds of families in grief.\u00a0 The true alchemy of grief, the Conjunctio is that grief and joy are opposite sides of the same coin.\u00a0 I usually get a \u201chuh?\u201d type of look from the grieving but go on to explain that they are experiencing such deep grief because they have had the true experience of joy.\u00a0 If joy was not part of the equation with their experiences with the deceased their grief would not be as deep.\u00a0 They influence each other and in that alchemy, we experience grief and understand the gift of joy.\u00a0 John Fehlen and I noted pretty quickly in our research that a lot of his books on joy spoke on grief, and almost all my books on grief spoke on joy.\u00a0 Alchemy is a gift, it is transformation.\u00a0 May we be given the gift of transformation, especially after hard things, like this doctorate.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> www.dictionary.com<\/a>, definition of Alchemy<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Lieberman, Daniel Z. Spellbound<\/em>. (Texas, BenBella Bbooks, Inc, 2022) pg 145<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Groves, Richard. The American Book of Living and Dying. (<\/em>California, Celestial Arts, 2009) pg 39<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> www.youtube.com<\/a> Your behavior won\u2019t be the same after this. <\/em>Greatness Clips interview with Dr. Lieberman<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Lieberman, Daniel Z. Spellbound<\/em>. (Texas, BenBella Bbooks, Inc, 2022) pg 163.<\/p>\n\n