Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. Today’s blog post is about the Alchemical Marriage and how it relates to the spiritual journey! I do want to note that I will only be going over what the Alchemical Marriage is and how it is used in the spiritual journey rather briefly, as this is a very large and complex topic, but I will link some articles at the bottom of the post for further study.
Alchemy is traditionally seen to be the arcane science that sought to turn base metals into gold. Most people also know Alchemy as being driven by the hope of the Alchemist to gain immortality. However, that is just the very basic understanding of what Alchemy is. True Alchemy takes place within the self, turning our own base metals, in the form of Shadow tendencies, into the Gold of our Sovereignty!
The Alchemical Marriage is the union of the Masculine and Feminine, the union of the Light and the Dark, and the union of the Sun and the Moon. This Alchemical Wedding between these two aspects creates the Hermetic Child, the Creation of Alchemy! The Hermetic Child is the symbol of rebirth into a new and higher spirituality. This result of the Alchemical Marriage, of the union of opposites, is a pure harmony that can result in an internal oneness, an understanding that we are each a part of the greater whole.
I want to note here a couple of things about phrasing when it comes to this topic. The Alchemical Marriage, or Alchemical Wedding, is also sometimes referred to as a Chemical Wedding (or in its oldest form, Chymical Wedding, as in The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, which is an anonymously published German book released in 1616 and is one of the central Rosicrucian Manifestos). The Hermetic Child is also called other things, such as simply the Alchemical Child or the more technical filius philosophorum in Latin, which translates to the Philosopher’s Child. This final term specifically relates this child to the Philosopher’s Stone, which was said to grant immortality!
Now that I have given that context, let’s get back to looking at the Alchemical Wedding. This Sacred Marriage is the goal of Alchemy, which is why it has been at the heart of discussions, writings on Alchemy, and Alchemical artworks for hundreds of years. When we see the many paintings of the Alchemical Marriage we can see so much of the symbolism that is at the core of Alchemical thought. There is the White Queen (the Moon, the Feminine), there is the Red King (the Sun, the Masculine), the Queen often holds a White Rose, the King often holds a Red Rose, the Moon is behind the Queen, the Sun is behind the King, the Queen may have Swans and Unicorns in the background of her side of the painting, while the King may have a Lion in the background or foreground of his side of the painting, the Queen’s side of the painting is often depicted as night, while the King’s side of the painting is often depicted as day. All of these various images hold power and show the correspondence between the dual aspects of being that come together to form the Alchemical Marriage, bringing about unity and enlightenment to the Spiritual Seeker! In many of these Alchemical paintings, we will see something in the middle between the King and Queen, which is sometimes a vessel where the combined energies are being united and sometimes a literal child symbolizing the Hermetic Child formed through this Sacred Marriage.
These artworks can be interpreted as a more literal depiction of the process of Alchemy as it was attempted to be used to create the Philosopher’s Stone (as I noted above, was often the intent and result of the Alchemical Marriage when a literal chemical result was attempted rather than the metaphysical intent of the Hermetic Child). However, these artworks also contain all of those more Occult and Arcane correspondences and images that can aid us in combining our own inner Masculine and Feminine, coming into alignment, and gaining a greater understanding of how to Alchemize Shadow pain and trauma into something beautiful! By confronting the issues that have been holding us back and holding ourselves in empathetic love, we can balance the Masculine and the Feminine and find the Gold of our Sovereign Selves. I want to finish by stating that I think that one of the best ways I have found to work with the energy of the Alchemical Marriage in my own practices is meditating with the Lovers Card from one of my favorite Tarot decks, as that card holds very similar energy to the Masculine and Feminine balance which occurs in the Alchemical Wedding!
I hope you have enjoyed reading my short overview of what the Alchemical Marriage is. Do you ever work with Alchemical energy in your own magick or spirituality? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is an Alchemical Marriage painting. I found the art on https://mx.pinterest.com/pin/317644579989184994/.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- https://31627ead4b8ef9965311-27c3e342e6b4b32f94c1796f94eaeaa1.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/The Alchemical Wedding and the Crowning of the Hermetic Child – Steve Kalec.pdf
- https://www.miosantana.com/divinejourneyblog/2022/1/31/alchemical-marriage
- https://www.sacredanarchy.org/blog/the-alchemical-wedding-a-journey-of-transformation
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (The whole All Souls Series discussed Alchemy in academic, magickal, and practical ways within the context of this fantasy series.)