The 7 stages of Alchemy & Astrological Transits
Not even two months ago I was laying in the bathtub and the most intense rage came over me directed toward the universe. I felt abandoned, slighted, and left behind. I laid there in the boiling hot water letting my blood boil to the surface and for once I didn’t suppress my rage. I didn’t tell myself there was a divine plan (though I know there is), I didn’t gaslight myself into feeling better, I didn’t trick myself out of my experience by knowing the universe wasn’t out to get me. I let it all come to the surface.
As I sat in the water feeling the heat rise I began to yell at the ceiling. Why on earth would the universe put me here, give me these big goals, ambitions, and desires and then pair me up with a health crisis that stopped me from working. Why was my dogs health declining so fast before my very eyes. Why couldn’t I help him? Why couldn’t I help myself? Why were there no answers?
Why was my bank account bleeding now after having the best year of my life financially? Why was I back in this financial cycle, again? Why were there no answers to the questions I so desperately needed answered right now?
Fuck.
Was I being punished? I yelled and screamed and cried.
And the rage moved through me. I felt a peace come over me and I found gratitude for the signs the universe had been giving me. I expressed my thanks for all that I had learned through this period. I landed in a place of acceptance, right back to knowing that there was some divine plan working through me at this time even if it hurt like hell both physically, mentally, and at soul level.
Over the following weeks I got the worst flu of my life, had wisdom tooth surgery hoping it would solve the debilitating migraines (it did not, back to square one), and I hoped I was going to get a break from the chaos. But as the eclipse season rolled and Neptune prepared to move into Aries, something changed in me. I suddenly was more clear than I had ever been about Henry, and knew that it was time to end his suffering. I knew I had to let him go.
The thing about Neptune is you’re in a fog until you’re not. Neptune will reveal things only when the time is right. And in that fog the blessing is the possible bliss you’ll feel with rose coloured glasses on. In that fog you might miss things that would otherwise cripple you. Some say that spirituality is the ultimate cure for depression, because to believe in something greater than us gives the hope that this isn’t all for nothing. Neptune can provide relief to the ache of the heart dealing with the ever expanding pains of life. And yet, when Neptune reveals the truth to you it can feel like you’re standing bare naked, exposed, unable to cover yourself up. The truth can be a painful thing to finally see.
In these moments I was exposed, finally seeing how bad things had gotten with Henry. I don’t think I could truly accept how much pain he was in, how far his dementia had gotten, and how he didn’t want to be here anymore. He didn’t go for walks anymore, and when I tried to invite him along he barely made it across the street. He sat in his little chair and his body shook with the pain. He wasn’t living anymore and I had been keeping him here because in my foggy grief I couldn’t accept that he was ready to leave. But suddenly I looked at him and saw the bare naked truth and I knew I had to let him go. I had to do a very Neptunian thing and let him complete the cycle, and pass into spirit.
And so he passed peacefully in my arms, in a quiet room, and I was strong for him as I said “I love you, I love you, I love you” over and over. I told him to let go, and he went softly to the other side.
I thought I would be so angry. I thought I would scream at the sky again. “Why would you take him from me”, words I screamed 13 years earlier as my 5 month old schnauzer passed. But I wasn’t angry at all. I was (and am) crushed, heart broken, aching, in shock… but not angry. I realized as I moved through the waves of grief how different my life was, how different I was. I wasn’t being punished, I was being initiated.
The last 12 years of deepening my relationship to the universe, source, the divine, God - whatever you want to call it, has strengthened me in ways I could have never imagined. Through tools like yoga, meditation, energy work, shadow work I’ve been able to meet myself deeper, breathe through the pain, and shift my understanding of the most gritty and painful parts of life. But nothing has been more profound than the work I’ve done within the realm of the cosmos.
Astrology has changed everything for me, not because I’m trying to predict what will come, but because I understand the cosmic tides I am riding. I work with the archetypal themes of my experience rather than moving through the deepest experiences blind. Astrology, and specifically karmic astrology, has helped me unlock the karmic contracts I am working with so deeply that when it seems like everything is falling apart around me I begin to question what I am learning through the alchemical process.
Understanding the cycles of growth we go through as humans is one of the most potent ways to meet the chaos that life promises. When I am moving into a Pluto transit I know that I will have to go through the alchemical process of disintegration and dissolution in order to melt away all the versions of me that have become unaligned. This means witnessing the shadow self and all parts that make up the currently formed self in order to become something new. When I am moving into a Uranus transit I know that change is coming, the tower will be struck by lightning, and it might be faster and more shocking than I have time to process in the moment. When I am moving into a Saturn transits I know I will be pressurized, pressed down, and forced to solidify - even down to the stagnation in my lymphatic system as Saturn transits Pisces (the lymphatic system) in my 6th house of health, opposite my sun (vital life force).
As humans we like to get ahead of ourselves, don’t we? “Can we just skip to the good part”, “can I fast forward through the pain”, or “maybe I can think myself out of this one” we think as our lives are being blown to pieces around us. Then we’re left humbled. We stand screaming or frozen in the eye of the storm trying to grab the pieces as they swirl around us. What would happen if you just let go?
Astrology, shadow work (and my journal honestly) have shown me that there is a different way.
Carl Jung refers to 7 alchemical processes that take us through the experience of being reborn and as you know, to be reborn old parts of you must die. A funeral must be held, goodbyes must be said, and things must change even though there is still a holding, gripping, and fighting to stay the same.
I believe I am currently moving into The Alchemical Marriage. I am meeting this fullness of me, releasing the old versions of self that are no longer able to walk this time line, and walking the new path of inner sacred union.
So I wonder, what phase are you in and are you willing to let go of who you were to become who you're here to be?
1. Calcination — The Burning Away
Element: Fire
Psychological meaning: The ego begins to crumble. The false identities, attachments, pride, and illusions of control are confronted and burned off. Think: ego death, the Tower moment, spiritual crisis.
Feels like: Burnout, breakdown, identity crisis, no longer knowing who you are.
2. Dissolution — The Melting
Element: Water
Psychological meaning: The unconscious begins to rise — old wounds, shadows, memories, and emotions flood to the surface. You start questioning beliefs and structures.
Feels like: Emotional overwhelm, dreams intensifying, past life echoes, feeling lost at sea.
3. Separation — The Sorting
Element: Air
Psychological meaning: You start sorting through the chaos. What is true? What belongs to you vs. what was inherited (hello, ancestral karma)? You gain discernment.
Feels like: Journaling out the truth, setting boundaries, choosing new beliefs, releasing what's not aligned.
4. Conjunction — The Marriage
Element: Earth
Psychological meaning: The conscious and unconscious start working together. Masculine and feminine, light and shadow, past and present, this is the inner sacred union.
Feels like: Deep integration. Wholeness. Feeling like you're finally coming home to yourself.
5. Fermentation — The Inner Resurrection
Element: Ether/Spirit
Psychological meaning: A spark of the divine. Inspiration, insight, new creativity. Something new and golden is born from your soul. You’ve composted the pain and now you bloom.
Feels like: A creative rebirth, spiritual gifts activating, soul mission clarity.
6. Distillation — The Purification
Psychological meaning: You refine your awareness. You embody your transformation and deepen your practice. No longer theory, it’s who you are now.
Feels like: Living in alignment, shedding old habits, staying connected to higher wisdom.
7. Coagulation — The Philosopher's Stone
Psychological meaning: The union of spirit and matter. The Self is realised. You’re no longer ruled by the ego or shadow, but you’ve integrated them. You're both human and divine.
Feels like: Freedom. Grounded magick. Wholeness.
The outer planet transits to placements in your chart will bring these 7 alchemical steps to the area of your life being activated (the house) and the part of your psyche being reworked (the placement).
I believe we go through these many phases in all areas of our lives, many times. When we walk this path we are constantly evolving our consciousness and the evolution of our souls expands through each alchemical process. One thing is for certain, when you allow this process to happen in your life, you are forever changed and you will likely need to release and make space for this new version of yourself. I find myself now needing to cleanse my space of clutter, give away clothes that don’t make me feel my best, and surround myself with a simplicity that feels all to Virgoian - maybe that’s the South Node slowly activating my Virgo Sun in the 12th.
Understanding your birth chart, your karmic signature, your challenging points and mastery through the birth chart, and harnessing your transits is the key to working through this alchemical experience that we call life. When you allow yourself to become cosmically aligned, without becoming a slave to the cosmos or believing that you do not have free will, things change.
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Understanding the 12 Arenas of your Life
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