Alchemy and the Poetics of Matter
hosted by the Embassy of the Free Mind in collaboration with the Anima Mundi School
Eco-Mysticism and the Practice of Alchemy for a Wounded World
“In order to understand nature, we must allow nature to be born inwardly in its full essence.” – Novalis
While alchemy has become increasingly popular over the past decades (thanks to CG Jung) and has even entered pop culture and New Age language, there is very little known about the practical side of alchemy and its importance as a mystical tradition. There is a renaissance of practical alchemy as interest in this archaic work with matter increases, and specifically a popular rise of interest in the work with plants and minerals: Spagyrics. While both psychological and plant alchemy are taught in unique places around the world, their synthesis has never been explored or taught before. This 12-week course is the first of its kind and has been created after Faranak Mirjalili completed her research at the University of Amsterdam on this exact intersection in 2024.
We will be diving deeply into the theories of alchemy, specifically the work of CG Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz, and post-Jungians like James Hillman, Jeffrey Raff, and Stanton Marlon. This theory will be combined with both theory and hands-on practice of the Spagyric tradition. The theory includes practical knowledge, but also a more meditative kind of reading that belongs to this tradition, which will involve working with primary sources (i.e., reading parts of alchemical manuscripts together and discussing them, freely associating with them). We will also have great guest-teachers who will join us, amongst whom is Daniel Wiseman, a seasoned Spagyrics practitioner and teacher.
“This other science is vast. Its worldview is utterly different to our own, for it seeks to understand nature in itself, for itself, out of itself, as our sacred, holy, even divine source. It is therefore a path of praise, love, and adoration, of knowledge as a domun dei, a gift of God.” – Christopher Bamford
Learning Objectives
An Introduction to the Alchemical Psychology of CG Jung
The transformational processes of matter in the tradition of Paracelcus
Differentiation between Body, Soul, and Spirit – Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury
An understanding of the difference between psychological, psycho-spiritual, theological alchemy, and laboratory alchemy, and where they meet.
A basic, novice hands-on experiment with basic equipment in the Paracelsian tradition of herbal alchemy (optional)
Course Details
Dates: April 26, May 3, May 10, -break-, May 24, May 31st, June 7
Time: Sundays, 15:00 to 17:00, Amsterdam Time
Both In-person & Online, in English
All sessions are recorded. Every participant receives full access to the videos, including the guided breath work practices, to revisit at any time.
Ticket price: € 385 in person and € 220 online for the full programme
If the fee presents a genuine difficulty, please reach out to tickets@efm.amsterdam. Arrangements can be made.
Programme Overview
Introduction to Alchemy & the Poetics of Matter
Into the Mysteries of Matter: Prima Materia
Nigredo: The Darkening Passage of Embodiment
Matter coming Alive: Body, Soul, Spirit in the Vessel
The Erotics of Matter: Conjunction and the Union of Opposites
Philosophers’ Stone: Mystery or Substance?
About the Host
Farânak Mirjalili (ReMA) a Jungian analyst based in the Netherlands. She is graduating this summer from the C. G. Jung Institute in Küsnacht, Switzerland (IAAP). As both a Sufi mystic and psychoanalyst, she's interested in the places where trauma and the soul meet, and how the analytical work can become a work of descent and incarnation and the inherent relationality with each other, the greater cosmos, and the whole of life. She’s especially drawn to the questions of what it means to be a mystic and advocate of the soul in our current landscapes of poly-crises.
She earned a Research Master's degree from the University of Amsterdam, where she did groundbreaking fieldwork research on the intersection of Jungian psycho-spiritual alchemy and laboratory alchemy— a work that she is now completing within a more Jungian and analytical framework at the CG Jung Institute. The title of her research is: “Alchemy & The Poetics of Matter: Eco-mysticism and the Practice of Alchemy for a Wounded World.”