August 2025

Alchemy & Herbalism

• Alchemy and Herbalism
• The Light Of Nature
• As Above, So Below
• The 4 Elements & 3 Principles

The Light Of Nature

What is the light of nature?

Spirit never without matter, matter never without spirit.

Part of the reductionist mindset of the modern Western world is the reduction of natural phenomena to an objective material substance. We embrace and trust science because it is objective, never stopping to consider the subjective parts of reality that we ignore.

Science relies on our five senses, especially our sense of eyesight. What we can’t see with our own eyes becomes irrelevant.

We can see the seed, the seedling, and the blooming flower, but we can’t imagine the unseen forces, the vitality that pushes the plant to evolve and grow.

When we look up at the sky and see the planets, we experience them as heavenly bodies, not as forces or ensouled beings.

Cultures from all over the world saw the divine being or God that is embodied by the Sun, the Moon, and the planets.

The Sun received different names in different cultures, but for all, the meaning was the same; they pictured him riding his chariot across the sky. In Egyptian mythology, he was called Ra; In Greek mythology, he was Helios or Apollo.  

Paracelsus describes the nature of Sol (the Sun) as pure fire. It does not dissolve in the fire or evaporate, but becomes clearer, purer, and more beautiful. The fire transmutes matter (from ice to water to gas) and the soul, when it burns the ego. 

The creation

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

~The bible

In the beginning, primal matter consisted of all the colors mingled together, bright and beautiful. From the primal, the four elements emerged.

The first element to be separated was the element of air, followed by the element of fire. The separation of air and fire created the white brightness, the Sun, and the red fire that shattered into small pieces, creating the moon and other stars.

The Sun, creator of life’s cycles

Through the power of the Sun, the rhythms of the Earth are created. The movement of the Earth around the Sun creates the four seasons, the life cycle of plants, the migration of birds, and the development of human consciousness.  

That light divided itself and imbued all that there is throughout nature. Like a kaleidoscope, the light expresses itself in many forms and colors, but essentially, the many are one.  

The light of consciousness

The light radiated from the center of the world and imbued all of nature with intelligence, consciousness, and wisdom. Our inner light, the light of our soul, enables us to see the light of nature in all natural phenomena.

When we blind ourselves to our light by reducing our being to a separated, material existence, the light of nature becomes dim in our eyes. We become blind to the divine in nature. 

Fireworks

All beings on Earth are nourished by the light of nature.

Plants learned how to harness light to produce sugar through the miracle of photosynthesis. They transform non-matter, or spirit, into a material substance.

The energy that fuels all animals and humans is based on the combustion of stored sunlight within plants. Our body energy is obtained by breaking down the phosphate bond within the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecule. In this process, a small particle of light called a biophoton is released. 

While you are reading this post, every one of your cells produces energy. Which means that they all release a particle of light. It’s a mind blowing thought to imagine this firework show happening in your body while you are busy living your life.

Light in nature

While the light of nature can not be directly perceived, we can see its influences in many natural processes, including plants, animals, and humans. 

Heliotropic or phototrophic flowers are flowers that follow the Sun. They open with the sunrise and follow the Sun’s movement through the day. As the Sun sinks on the western horizon, heliotropic flowers close.

One such botanical family is the Compositae family. Among the family members are sunflower, calendula, arnica, echinacea, chamomile, and elecampane. The flowers in this family have a very delicate, detailed form. They tend to be yellow or white, and their scent is gentle and not overpowering. Medicinally, they bring light to dark, diseased tissue by reminding it of its integrity.

Solar power

As a young mother, I was particularly interested in children’s development. I remember reading Karl Konig’s book “The First Three Years.” In a chapter describing the process of developing the ability to stand upright, Konig describes how the light of the child’s consciousness pulls them toward the Sun in the same way plants grow. 

Like heliotropic flowers, humans follow the Sun’s journey throughout the sky. The circadian cycle is managed by the length of sunlight waves as they hit the retina of the eye. Early blue wavelength in the morning initiates the production of cortisol, the alert hormone. As the Sun crosses the middle of the sky and starts to descend in the west, the length of light waves changes, followed by a reduction in cortisol levels and an increase in melatonin. The circadian cycle affects not just our sleep awake cycle but also our metabolism, and reproduction.

Men Know thyself

One myth about the alchemists was that they could transform lead into gold. Many wannabe alchemists from the Renaissance, up until today, have tried to look for a formula that would be like the goose that laid golden eggs.

If anything, the true alchemists were looking for the divine in nature. They were not after material gold. They spoke in a language filled with symbols. Lead was a symbol of the human ego that, through a distillation, could be elevated into pure consciousness or gold. Indeed, gold is associated with the Sun. 

The mystery of the one and the many

Part of our new age culture is to say we are all connected. However, the new age movement does not explain how we are interconnected. Some ecologists and environmentalists will clarify that we are part of an ecosystem where all parts are interdependent on the other parts of the ecosystem.

These claims are valid to some extent, but they are limited by our intellectual mindset. The part that we have with our modern consciousness and senses can be perceived.

Modern medicine separates the body from the soul and spirit. The body too is separated into organs and systems; each one cared for by a different medical specialist. We no longer hold space to the idea that the body is more than the sum of its parts.

The light of nature is the principle that emanates from nature. It transforms the many into the one. It is the unifying principle, which means that we are not connected to nature; instead, we are nature.

One way to think of it is to imagine a body of water. You throw a stone, and a ripple is created. While the ripple itself (the wave pattern) moves across the surface, the individual water molecules don’t travel with the ripple. Is the ripple part of the body of water? Or is it simply the body of water?

Roots of Holistic Medicine

For alchemists, dis-ese isn’t just a physical condition but a sign of mental and spiritual imbalance; it is a shift from the integrity or archetype of the being and its place in the world. In this sense, alchemists are the founding parents of holistic medicine.

Just to make it clear, I am not in any way suggesting that we drop modern science. Instead, I suggest a more complex model that combines the mind with the heart. To see the whole picture, we need to develop the eye of the alchemist, the eye of the heart. 

An herbalist looking up to the alchemists’ work for Inspiration will work on developing the “eye of the heart.” They will transform what they learn with the intellectual mind by observing people and plants, finding patterns in colors, gestures, forms, and habitats.

By letting observations guide them toward the wisdom of the heart.