You're listening to falling into soul. I am your host McCall Erickson. I've been a student and writer in the field of inner healing and transformation specifically alchemy for the past two decades, I bring forth context and reassurance for the deeper, more confusing processes of soul awakening that are not reflected for us in mainstream culture, including spiritual cultur. Having the right context for the processes you're going through that the world gives you no context for can help you feel less crazy, less alone and more able to work with them as they're happening.
Thank you for tuning in. This is episode eight. I want to shed some light on what I think is one of the greatest gifts that comes from doing the inner work. The philosopher's stone. I know that's an esoteric term though, is kind of hard to understand, but I'm going to concretize it, make it real. What is it? What does it mean? What does it give us? What can we do with it?
I realize in this podcast, I've been saying a lot of the same thing, I've been saying over and over how hard that alchemy process is, how hard inner work is coupled with how hard life itself is. I've been saying that, and I've been saying how we don't always get what we want out of doing the inner work.
Things don't always work out the way we want. Life's hard. The inner works hard. It doesn't always lead us where we want to go. And I've also been saying that life continues to be hard, no matter how much inner work we do. Well, if all of these things are true, what is the point? Why would it even matter to go through the work of alchemy?
If life's going to continue to be hard, if we can't escape the pain, the struggle, the dark times, the muddy times, the cleansing of those lower vertical experiences, no matter how horrible they are, if we can't escape all of that, no matter how much work we do, then what's the point?
Well, when it comes to alchemy, there actually is a point there is a purpose and it's the philosopher's stone. It's the aim of doing the inner work or what alchemists called the Great Work.
It's why we do the Great Work--to create the philosopher's stone within. Which is really more to say, to reveal it, to uncover it because it's something within us. It's the unbreakable core within us, that's there all along, but we have to get to it through the inner work and when we can get to it, we can navigate life from a different place.
We can't change life, the nature of life and the ongoing difficulties of it, but we can change our relationship to it, which is the most important thing, because it's the relational space that matters the most because that's where we work magic. That's where we make change, in that relational space. So if we can change our relationship to life, then we can have a different experience with it, which is what the philosopher's stone helps us do.
So, how do we get to the philosopher stone? First let's frame the journey of soul awakening that helps us get to that place of the philosopher's stone. I'm talking about a specific journey that I call the second half of the mountain journey, which is the title of my book. And many of you are familiar with it.
The second half of the mountain journey is all the work that comes in between awakening to our true selves and being able to maintain a full-time alignment with our true selves, actually live from that core in all situations. There's a lot of work that comes in between awakening to our true selves and actually being able to maintain alignment with our true selves all the time.
When we first awakened and we get a taste of our true nature, our infinite self and that spirit energy and expanded consciousness is very profound. But most of us can't maintain a clear path to that center, to that consciousness at all times, we slip in and out of it. Life pulls us out of it. Obligations, duties, roles, family roles, work roles, trauma, peer pressure, cultural pressure, and conditioning can all pull us out of that alignment with our true self.
It takes the second journey, the journey of the second half of the mountain to go through the deeper processes of alchemy that can get us to a place where we can maintain full alignment with our truest selves. It's a journey full of shadow work, soul healing, soul initiation. Alchemically it includes the dark nights of the soul and spirit and distillation, which are incredibly rigorous consuming processes.
But they allow us to enter that full time enduring awakening with ourselves, where we have connection to that self at all times.
The spiritual teacher and writer Adyashanti puts this really simply. He says there are two awakenings. One is the non-abiding awakening and the other is the abiding awakening.
Non abiding and abiding. And all that work, all that soul work, all of that second half of the mountain journey comes in between the non abiding and the abiding awakening. Of course, the non abiding being our first taste of awakening to our true selves, but then all the work we have to do to get to that abiding awakening with ourselves and to become a different rarer truer version of ourselves than we've ever been in any life or time to clear a path to a new experience.
I'm going to read a couple paragraphs from the second half of the mountain that actually describe why I think the second half of the mountain journey is so important, why it matters so much. I'm starting on page 53. The second paragraph
when I first became aware of the alchemical stages working in my life, I couldn't imagine ever going through some of them again. I wanted to know that what I was going through was actually going to get me somewhere. While part of me understood that alchemy never stops and that we will always be evolving, I also needed to know that the hell I was going through was to a certain end. I couldn't put words to it at the time, but what I was longing for was the assurance that if I went through the stages as thoroughly and completely as I could, I would build some kind of solid foundation from which to live the rest of my life. I was yearning for the unbreakable core that is the philosopher's stone.
The good news is that the overarching journey we go through to form the lesser stone and then the greater stone within does come to an end. The other news is that the end is another beginning, not a repeat journey, but the beginning of the ability to move through the cycles and phases of alchemy at higher levels and quicker paces. The end of the journey up the mountain is the beginning of being able to face the rigors of life from an unbreakable core that is uniquely yours.
An unbreakable core that is uniquely yours. That's the philosopher stone, being able to create and work magic from that unbreakable core that is uniquely yours. That's what I wanted more than anything. And I could tell that I wasn't quite there and that the second half of the mountain journey, those rigors of alchemy processes were getting me there.
So let's talk about the philosopher's stone and how you can know you're actually working with it, how it's formed in your heart. There are five things that I want to talk about that come to mind. The philosopher's stone gives us
- the inseparable union of soul and spirit within
- a sense of wellbeing bonded to the personality permanently
- the ability to stay aligned with yourself in all situations with all people
- unparalleled focus and intent
- and finally a fresh start, the ability to start building something new without having to have the rug pulled out from under you all the time
So let's take each of these one at a time and just kind of go over them because I do want to, illuminate the magic of the philosopher stone, even though life sucks, it's hard, you don't get what you want, all that kind of stuff. I really do have a passion and a respect for the philosopher's stone and what it allows us to do. And I don't want to lose sight of that. No matter how hard things are.
So the first one, the inseparable union of soul and spirit. If you listened to episode five, I talk about the difference between soul and spirit, the opposing energies within us and how all of the alchemical stages are preparing us to work with both energies, the masculine and feminine energy within and how we have to reconnect to the soul to be able to bring in into the picture too.
Well, when we get to the philosopher's stone, the way has been cleared enough. The alchemical fire has burned enough dross away that the soul and the spirit can unite permanently in a marriage that does not break down, which means it's hard to over- identify with one or the other. Anything we do has to be with both in mind, has to be with that union of soul and spirit that give and take that masculine, feminine within we can't turn our back on one or the other.
There's no one that's more important than the other . We learn to work with both. And we walk with both in every step because they are bonded permanently together in our hearts. In some ways this can actually make navigating a little more difficult. It can feel more restricted at first because you can't get ahead of yourself.
You can't get too far into spirit energy, or pulled too far down into the depths of soul for too long. You're working both at once. So it's just, it's a different feeling than before. But it's a paradox because although it feels restricting to the ego to not be able to charge ahead or pull back with one or the other for too long, it's a true spaciousness.
To be able to build something, create something with both of those energies within gives us a fluidity of darkness and light working with both of those in ourselves. It gives us the capacity to hold and face processes of grief at the same time as experiencing beauty and magic and wonder we hold the heartbreak and the holiness, the wildness and the divinity.
The next one, a sense of wellbeing bonding permanently to the personality. When you go through these processes, these wash, rinse, repeat processes of alchemy, it builds a sense of anti-fragility. You're not as afraid of breaking because you know that for everything that breaks something unbreakable within is going to reveal itself, you're less afraid of the fire.
Yes. It still hurts. It still hurts to lose things. But, you know, you know, when you've come through the other side of so many hard alchemical processes, so many lower vertical experiences before that you're going to do it again. It's almost like you have peace amidst all things, not because there's an absence of anxiety or an absence of hardship or an absence of grief or an absence of pain, but because the peace exists with it.
They coexist. Honestly, sometimes the sense of wellbeing that I feel deeply embedded in me, it's a little weird. It doesn't go away. It's so strange to be going through a process of grief to be breaking down, but to still feel that all was well. It's not a bypass. It's a bothness, it's a bothness
Adyashanti also has a phrase that I love. "All as well even when all is unbelievably not well. "
That's what it feels like when we're in the center, when we're navigating from the place of the stone, we don't lose sight of the peace. We don't lose it. It's a touchstone. It's always there. No matter how dark things get.
Next, the ability to stay aligned with yourself in all situations with all people. This is an amazing gift. I really was not fond of the feeling of losing myself or losing my connection with myself. I would find myself being with certain groups of people or hearing other people's stories or opinions or, or feeling the peer pressure pull. And I would lose my connection with myself. And until I alchemized enough out of the way that I could have that connection, of course, I found myself not being able to be around certain people who had differing opinions, not being able to be around certain people that I held on pedestals. It was like, I couldn't hold my alignment around certain people or in certain situations.
The first thing that comes to mind is my family of origin. I had to leave my family of origin, the dysfunctional family system of origin that permeates our society. I had to leave that to find myself and every time I would make a little bit of progress and go back for a family visit, I felt like I would lose myself. I would be pulled back into the dynamics that I always knew, the patterns that I always knew, the roles that I always played. And I was so upset with myself. It took so long to be able to go back and hold my true alignment, hold my truth. No matter what, no matter what pulls I had and the pulls are strong sometimes to fall back into place, get back into place.
That was the biggest message. Get back in your place. But my soul was saying, no, I know what my place is. I feel my true place and I have to be strong enough to stand in it. Well, the alchemy gave me that ability to stand in it.
Before I formed that philosopher stone within I had a time limit on how long I could be around my family before I would fall back into my old roles and my old habits. And it was two hours. That was my time limit. After I had that philosopher stone within and I was working with it for a time. I actually ended up going back to live with my family for eight months. Four with my parents, and four with my sister while I was finishing writing the book, the second half of the mountain, it was a crazy experience.
I couldn't believe that I was able to live in the house with them for that long and continue to hold my alignment. The whole time held my boundaries, held my place, held my truth, walked in peace. It was amazing. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had with the philosopher's stone. Not because the family system and dysfunction was any different because it wasn't, but because I was different, my relationship with myself was different.
Next, the philosopher stone gives us unparalleled focus and intent. This goes along with not being able to get out of our alignment, not being able to get off track, not being able to be distracted. Not going too far in a direction that isn't us.
When we come to this place of the philosopher stone, you and the path are one, you can take a step to the right. You can take a step to the left, but you know what the path is coming with you, your alignment follows you anywhere. It's weird. It can be a little annoying, but it's also amazing because you can't fuck it up. That was one of my mantras when I started working with the philosopher's stone is I can't fix it and I can't fuck it up because it just is.
Alignment just is. It follows you everywhere. There's no getting out of it anymore, which is why it's so hard to achieve the philosopher's stone, which is why the alchemy leading up to it is so rigorous. It's a permanent step in the process of your evolution, it's irrevocable, there's no going back.
And that unparalleled focus and intent, that alignment that follows us everywhere, that clear path that can't really be permanently muddied anymore gives us the ability to discern and intuit the true nature of things much more quickly. We have the capacity to be in reality, more fully. We spend less time deluding ourselves. And the LV experience, the lower vertical experiences ensure to help with that alignment. So it's just really hard to get off track anymore. Everything is the track. Everything is path.
And one of the biggest things, the philosopher's stone gives us is a fresh start. The ability to build actually build, create something co-create from that unbreakable core within. Up until that point all we are really doing is destroying. All we're really doing is tearing down the walls. All we're really doing is undoing all of the work and all of the energy goes toward undoing, unbecoming what isn't us.
I have a quote that's gone around for years. The journey isn't so much about becoming anything as it is about unbecoming, everything that isn't you. So you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.
You know, that's not really an original thought. So many mystics have said that along the way. I just said it in my own words.
But once we've gone through the distillation that wash, rinse, repeat, we can get off the merry-go-round. We can finally get off of the cycles that keep us in the same holding patterns. And we're no longer in a holding pattern. We're in a building pattern. We're in this new energy where we can actually build from a new place within ourselves.
Don't get me wrong. It's not an ability to make all your dreams come true. It's really not that It's ithe ability to work with what is, the ability to begin building, creating alliances with people in your life, shifting your relationships, balancing the soul and spirit, the masculine and feminine in your relationships. It's the ability to face things you couldn't face before.
That's one of the biggest things I realized with the philosopher's stone, is that there were a lot of things that I couldn't face until I had that alignment with myself. There are a lot of imbalances in my relationships that I couldn't face until I had faced myself, until I was aligned with myself.
So the philosopher's stone energy, my magic started going toward cleaning up some of these imbalances in my life, these imbalances around me once I was okay with myself.
So I hope that gives you a taste of what the philosopher's stone is like. Of course, I talk about it a little more in the second half of the mountain, too if you want to read more about it. You know, it doesn't mean we're done. It doesn't mean evolution isn't going to continue. It's quite the opposite. Alchemy continues at an even faster speed once we have the philosopher's stone, because we've created an alchemical metabolism, an ability to move through the alchemical phases faster.
There's not as much in our way. So we have a greater ability to move through things, to move through life and situations, as it comes. Before we reached the philosopher's stone within, all of the alchemy is about reaching it. All of the alchemy is about undoing everything that isn't it so we can get to it so we can get to our core.
After we get to that core alignment, all of the alchemy is about maintaining that alignment, maintaining the purity of our alignment with core and co-creating from that space, which I also call wielding the stone. We can actually start working with it to build something.
I hope this has helped shed some light on the philosopher's stone. To me, it is the greatest gift of alchemy. It's the point of the great work to have the philosopher stone.
As I said in episode one, there's never been anything more important to me in my life than to be in alignment with my inner truth, with my inner knowing to know what my place, my work, my offering in any situation is no matter what life brings, no matter how hard it is, no matter what I have to face.
If I can do it from that unbreakable core within then it's doable. If I'm not in alignment with that core within it's the worst suffering there is.
Thank you again for being here in this space with me. If you want to keep getting these messages of reassurance for the inner work, this context for alchemy, subscribe in the app where you're listening. Once again, you can always find more of my work on McCallErickson.com. I'm on Twitter and Instagram at McCall Erickson.
Until next time be well in soul .